Not So Loud
by Hollowfied Otaku
Summary: What if Lincoln wasn't the only boy amongst the siblings? What if he had a big brother that he could look up to while he tries to survive the chaos of living with 10 sisters? Come, join in reading about the answer to those questions as we live the adventure of one, Luke Loud.
1. The Introduction

Not So Loud...

 _ **Hey Loud House Fans, I hope you enjoy what I have in store for you all. This story is an idea I had a while ago with just one simple question: What if Lincoln wasn't the only boy amongst the siblings? Well I wanted to answer that question in a way I knew how, so without further ado. Enjoy!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: The Loud House is owned by Nickelodeon.**_

 _The Introduction_

"Kids, time to get ready for school!" called the familiar voice of one Rita Loud, who was soon greeted by the sound of nine pairs of feet touching the floor. " _Boys!_ " she added sternly, causing two more pairs of feet to touch the floor.

With a content sigh escaping her lips, the Loud Matriarch spun on her heel and made her way to the kitchen where her husband was in the middle of preparing the usual breakfast of eggs, sausage and bacon. Looking over his shoulder, he gave his wife a typical bright smile that one usually associates with Lynn Loud Sr.

"Hey honey, could you-" He started but stopped upon seeing Rita already starting to set the table "-thanks."

"You're welcome" she replied in kind, placing down the last empty plate, years of doing the action had made the parents practically Olympic-level athletes in the task. Soon the couple heard the rush of feet as well as the cooing of a baby as they say their kids entering the dining room, all of them still clad in their pajamas, much to the annoyance of Rita who knew that they were gonna now scramble to get themselves completely ready to leave.

Various mumbles and groans of 'Good morning' could be heard from the eleven kids capable of speech and one very energized 'Goo!' from the twelfth one. Taking there seats, the kids started to chow down on breakfast once it was in front of them, conversation starting almost immediately .

"Ugh, I'm _literally_ not looking forward to this math test today..."

"Fret not, Eldest Sister, based upon the results of the last mock test I gave you, you have a 76.4% chance of passing."

"Hey look on the bright side, at least you'll _see_ the answers coming from a mile away! Haha! Get it?"

Groans could be heard from around the table, save for Lynn Sr, who chuckled at the small pun. Afterwards, various other small conversations could be heard around the table from everyone about pretty much everything.

All except one.

Rita noticed this and easily looked over at her oldest son, Luke, who looked as though he was trying not to fall back asleep at the table. She knew why almost instantly after seeing his slightly bloodshot, green eyes.

"You were up late playing that game again, weren't you?" she stated more than asked, catching the teens attention and causing his eyes to snap wide open as he looked towards his mom.

Shakily, the brown haired boy said "...what gives you that idea, Ma...?" Rita began to glare at the boy "Luke..." she began.

"I'm just a little tired, Ma, I swear"

" _Luke._ " she added a slight edge to her voice, making the boy start to sweat a little as he tried to avert his eyes from his mother's piercing blue gaze. Rita growing a bit frustrated by his behavior.

" _Luther Marie Loud_ ,you answer this instant." The mother stated sternly, daring not to raise her voice knowing it would upset her baby. The usage of his full name is what caught not only his attention but also everyone else's as they all stopped their conversations to see the almost routine conversation unfold before them.

The teen finally chose to meet his mother's gaze before taking a deep breath and saying "Yes..."

"For how long?"

"Uh..."

"Luther."

"Till about thirty minutes before you called us down..."

Upon the admission, Rita sent a stern glare to her son, one that he knew all too well. "We'll discuss your punishment when you get home" she said evenly, making her son nod his head understandingly. Turning to everyone else, Rita released her glare before telling the rest of the kids to get ready.

After a mad dash of eleven kids using the bathroom, getting dressed and grabbing their backpacks, they were off in their usual routine. Upon the five teens of the kids being dropped off at school, they all began breaking off to go talk to their friends (and in Lori's case, boyfriend) with Luke trailing behind his twin sister, Luna.

While from an outsider's' perspective, when you see the two standing next to each other, you can tell their siblings in someway however, much like Lola and Lana, they couldn't be anymore different. Luna being more carefree, happy-go-lucky, extroverted, and musically inclined while Luke was very much a more reserved, quiet, introverted, gameaholic.

After a couple of minutes of walking in the school, they found themselves in front of Luna's locker, the Rocker Twin swiftly opening it and fishing around for something but before Luke could question her, he had an energy drink shoved into his chest roughly. "Hey! What the hell, Lunes?"

"Oh calm down, you big baby, you could use this right now" the girl said, glancing at him before starting to grab stuff that she'd need for the first couple of classes. Luke looked at the drink, giving it a once over before looking at his sister in confusion.

"You drink Blue Sharks?" he asked, making Luna roll her own green eyes at the question with a smirk.

"Nah dude, I keep 'em in here for you."

"Oh...thanks."

"No problem, Luv" she said, laying on her British accent.

With that said, the boy cracked open the drink and practically inhaled it, the effects taking hold almost immediately. Luke's pupils dilated for a few moments before his demeanor shifted from one of exhaustion to indifference with him tucking his free hand into his grey sweats. "Thanks, Sis" he said, his voice even changing to a simple monotone.

"Oh it was no big deal" she started before pinching his cheek, "Anything for me li'l brother" she finished, slipping into the accent again. Luke quickly slapped her hand away with his cheeks starting to turn pink, he always hated when she did the whole 'Older twin' thing. Luna took no offense to the slap, she easily laughed it off before shutting her locker and giving her brother a quick, side hug and wishing him a good day.

With Luke now being left alone in the hallway, he started to make his way to class but was soon pulled into an empty classroom by a pair of hands. Before the boy could even make a sound, a soft pair of lips met his own and immediately he knew who it was.

"Carol, what the shit?!" he whispered harshly at the blonde, who merely giggled at the reaction. She always loved scaring him like that. "Sorry sweetie," she started before giggling again, Luke glaring at his girlfriend and Lori's 'Mortal Enemy', Carol Pingrey, who had now recovered from her giggle fit before finishing her statement "I just wanted to make sure we're still on for Friday."

"Did you have to scare me to do it?"

"Nope, but I didn't want to pass up the chance."

Luke growled at her which, after the first two months of their secret relationship, had lost its effect on her. "Yeah we're still on...I hope" he said, rubbing the back of his neck, this caught her attention.

"You hope? Did something happen?" Carol asked but her question was answered when she looked at Luke's face and quickly her expression changed from confusion to slight annoyance as she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Up all night again?" she asked to which he nodded.

"Another Fate 2 raid?" another nod, to which Carol groaned but the warning bell rang before she could say anything. "Well we'll figure something out," she began making her way to the door, intentionally sashaying as much as possible before looking back at the slightly drooling Luke "Text me later, okay babe?" she finished with a wink before leaving the classroom entirely.

"...I hate it when she does that..." Luke muttered, feeling his face heat up before quickly leaving the room and making his way to class, not noticing an angry pair of blue eyes following his movements.

"You're gonna have so much explaining to do when we get home" Lori growled out at she glared at the back of her little brothers head.

 _ **And with that we'll wrap up the first chapter, hope you all liked it, I know I liked writing it. It feels good to have finally settled on one of the versions of Luke that I had planned out. As we move forward though, things will get more interesting and fun for The Louds and I hope you all will enjoy the ride. But as always, Stay Tuned Readers.**_


	2. A Change of Plans

Not So Loud...

 _ **Hey guys, here's another installment of Not So Loud... Hope you enjoy it as much as you enjoyed chapter one. This one will be long mainly due to the fact that it's The Holiday Season so I hope you like it.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: The Loud House is owned by Nickelodeon**_

 _A Change of Plans_

While Luke is usually never really one to complain a lot, he always found himself grumbling about how idiotic it was for his guidance counselor to give him a science class for Juniors at the end of the day. That science class unfortunately being Chemistry and while the class isn't too hard, Luke didn't like it for a couple of reasons. The main reason being the fact that he had this class with his second oldest sister, Leni and that already made for an interesting time given how oblivious the girl seems to be about the subject.

As usual for this time of day, the final bell rang. Releasing the students from their prisons and to the freedom of home. "Remember class, read through the assigned chapters and be ready for the lab test on Friday," the chemistry teacher, Mrs. Erikson, announced before adding with a light giggle "And make sure to not spill anything on your partner in that time." That seemed to earn some laughs from the class, much to Luke's annoyance and Leni's embarrassment.

The two Louds made their way to the front door, after stopping by their lockers, and exited the building. Easily the two spotted their older sister getting on the bus but Luke had to part ways with his sister due to him having to work. "Alright Leni, see ya at home" Luke said, hugging the blonde who in turn hugged him back.

"See you, Lukey. And thanks for the clothes again" the tall, blonde girl said with a light pink dusting her cheeks.

"Don't mention it...seriously" Luke said before breaking the hug and heading to the student parking lot where his ride was waiting. Leni made her way over to the bus she had seen Lori get on, remembering the number thanks to a little jingle the brunette twins came up with to help her, and once she had got on, immediately she was pulled down into a seat by a familiar rocker as the bus started to move.

"Leni, what happened earlier?" she asked, concern laced in her tone.

"Oh not much, Lukey gave me these totes cute clothes" she started, pulling lightly on the shirt that had the logo for a game, Ruin, "I think they like totes go with his whole quiet guy look."

"No Leni, I mean with chemistry, are you okay? I heard you had to change for some reason. Sam wouldn't tell me."

"Oh, that!...um...w-well..." The blonde started, pink once again returning to her cheeks before looking around and taking a deep breath "Lukey like spilled some green stuff on me from a tube-thingy and I had to be decaffeinated..."

"Decontaminated..."

"Yeah that! And...well..." she hesitated before finally "I totes shouldn't have worn cotton today..." the blonde finished, hanging her head in embarrassment.

It didn't take Luna much to figure out the rest before she felt sorry for the older teen, pulling her into a side hug and rubbing her shoulder reassuringly "Well at least nobody took pictures..." the rocker tried to say, only for Leni to counter with "Cause they were too busy staring...and laughing..." This tugged at the rockers heart a bit, knowing how embarrassing a situation like that is but before she could say anything, the bus made it to their stop.

The two as well as Lori, who had sat a couple rows back, and Luan, who had opted to sit next to a brown haired boy, got up and made their way off the bus before starting the short walk home. Everyone, save for Lori, easily letting out a relaxed sigh upon walking through the door and dropping their backpacks off and enjoying the few minutes they get before the others get home.

Luna had sprung for getting a soda before getting started on her homework, she noticed Lori's thoughtful expression. While the rocker would usually take this as her older sister thinking of date ideas between her and her Boo-boo Bear, this expression seemed different to her so the young rocker decided to bite the bullet and find out what was on her sisters mind. Quickly, Luna reached into her skirt pocket and grabbed a coin.

"Penny for your thoughts?" she asked, holding the coin up to Lori, causing the blonde to snap out of her thoughts. "Huh?" the blonde looked confused at the smaller brunette before Luna realized her mistake and explained.

"It's something Luke and I do when one of us is lost in thought, kinda helps us figure stuff out." she stated simply, still holding out the coin, letting a gentle smile grace her face. Lori quickly picked up what the point of the coin was for and took it from Luna's grip and began explaining what she had seen and heard at the beginning of school that day. It was a good thing Luna hadn't started drinking her soda, because if she had then she was sure that she would've done a spit-take out of shock.

"You sure that's what you saw, dude?" Luna asked, still not believing the tale.

"Yeah I'm sure, you think I'd make that up?!" Lori replied before throwing her hands up indignantly "Ugh, I can't believe him! Talking to Carol Pingrey! Even having the nerve to flirt with her!" the blonde finished with a cross of her arms over her chest, now glaring a hole into the coffee table.

"Maybe it not what you think? Maybe Carol came onto him?" Luna asked, trying to quickly diffuse Lori's evidently building rage and those questions seemed to have gotten through to the blonde as she looked to have started contemplating that possibility before her anger returned even more prominent than before.

"That filthy, little slut better not have even touched my little brother..." Lori growled under her breath, her hand gripping her bicep harshly. Luna sat there quietly, knowing better than to try and talk any sense into Lori, especially since she had proposed the idea of Carol flirting with her twin.

After a short while, Lori's rage seemed to have died down enough for her to say "We are _literally_ calling a meeting when everyone gets here. I'm getting to the bottom of this one way or another." Luna merely prayed for all of this to be a misunderstanding.

Meanwhile, across town, Luke had decided that the counter at Gus' would make for a decent headrest as he felt his sugar rush finally wear off after the last Blue Shark he had drank at lunch. Before the teen could shut his eyes however, he heard a familiar voice call out to him.

"Yo Luke, how's it going, bro?" Bobby asked, walking up to the counter causing the younger teen to look at him.

"It's going, man. What brings you here though? Shouldn't you be at work?" he asked, seeing Bobby in his usual clothes rather than one of his many uniforms.

"Nah, brah, I promised NiNi that I'd take her to Gus' if she passed her history test."

"NiNi?"

"Oh, right, you haven't met her before" Bobby stated before stepping to the side to reveal a small girl in a baggy, purple hoodie who, upon a closer inspection, looked a bit like Bobby himself.

"You seem a bit too young to have a kid, Bobby" Luke stated matter-of-factly, making Bobby and 'NiNi' blush and sputter incoherently before 'NiNi' spoke up.

"I'm his little sister, you ass!"

" _Ronalda, Lengua!_ " Bobby stated, dipping into his spanish a bit, clearly upset at hearing what the little girl said.

Luke began to half-heartedly laugh at the two before raising his hands in defeat " _Lo siento, Lo siento_ " he said simply with a grin, making the two Latinos pause and look at the tired teen, Luke quickly continued, in english, "So what can I do for you two?"

Bobby opened his mouth to speak before Ronalda cut him off, "I heard you're the Games Master" she stated, making the brunette roll his eyes before nodding simply "I'm here to challenge you!" the young girl finished, a confident grin placing itself on her face.

"Sorry to disappoint you kid, but I'm not really feeling too good today," Luke started but was quickly cut off by the small girl.

"Oh, I see, scared a little girl will beat you?"

"Now I didn't say that, I'm just ti-" Luke's explanation was cut off by Ronalda suddenly making clucking sounds as she smugly starred up at him, starting to annoy him.

"Stop it, I'm not in the mood today" Luke said but the girl continued to make the clucking sounds.

"I said stop."

"Ronalda, I think you should stop..." Bobby added in weakly, seeing the growing irritation but it didn't stop her. Ronalda didn't stop even when she saw Luke's face start to turn red in anger or when she saw his eye twitch.

Finally, with a vein appearing prominently on Luke's neck, he shouted towards the clucking girl " _Cállate, idiota!_ " That got her to stop, but not without her smugly grinning at the now angered teen, she watched as he stormed into the back and came around to the front a few minutes later with a bag that made the distinct sound of tokens rattling around inside.

Luke looked down at her, his anger still present, and said "Ten games, you choose what, and if you beat me six-out-of-ten times, you can select any prize from the Tier One and Two shelves" he paused to drop the bag into Ronalda's hands before finishing with a smug grin of his own "But I have to warn you, I know every game in here like the back of my hand."

Needless to say, even with anger-induced adrenaline, Luke had lost tremendously and that, however, was putting it incredibly lightly. The supposed 'Games Master' didn't account for the young girl to pick ten of the fastest paced songs on Dance Battle. The poor, tired teen was on all fours, sweating, dry-heaving and glaring at his opponent who had beaten him 10-0.

"You sure you're the Games Master?" Ronalda asked him with a raised eyebrow and a smug grin.

"I...told you...I was...t-tired..."

"Uh huh, sure" she sarcastically stated with a roll of her eyes. Luke slowly drug himself up from the greasy, dirty carpet and made his way over to the prize counter "W-what do you want, k-kid?" he wheezed, using the counter for support.

Ronalda waited for him to have his bearings before asking for the skateboard that had the Ace Savvy logo on the underside of the deck, this seemed to peek not only Luke's interest but also Bobby's.

"You sure you want this?" Luke asked, looking at her with a ton of skepticism very clearly present in his tone.

"It's for a friend of mine" Ronalda stated quickly, causing both of the older boys to look at her with raised eyebrows before noticing the light dust on her cheeks. Those raised eyebrows were soon joined by their friends as the two gasped in delight before Bobby scooped his little sister up and pulled her into a crushing hug as he nuzzled her cheek with his own.

Luke took this as his opportunity to get some payback "Well, well, well...looks like short stack has her own boo-boo bear" he said, watching as the girl started growling at him with her blushing becoming more obvious.

"I do not! It's for a friend!" she responded heatedly "As if I'd like some Lame-o who's into Ace Savvy!" she finished with a huff before Bobby took that as his que to put her down before she started squirming in his hold. Upon setting her on the ground, the young girl spun on her heel and stormed out, clutching the skateboard close to her chest.

"I should go after her" Bobby said, feeling guilty over how he reacted.

"Yeah, you should..." Luke said, only to stop Bobby one more time to add, guiltily, "Tell her I'm sorry and that I hope whoever it is, likes the board."

"I will...See ya around, Luke..." Bobby replied before leaving the building in pursuit of his little sister.

The rest of Luke's shift went by without anymore incidents and soon it was time for him to head home. After changing back into his street clothes, he left through the backdoor where his ride was waiting for him, as usual on his workdays. Luke felt a smile break across his face as he made his way over to the car and climbed in.

"Hey, ba-mmphf" Luke was quickly cut off by a pair of soft lips meeting his and a pair of dainty arms wrapped around his neck. After only a few moments, Luke's lips were freed from their pillowy soft prison and the owner of the lips spoke.

"Hey Lulu!" Carol greeted, smiling wide at her boyfriend. She always knew what kind of reaction she would get when she did that, so it came as no surprise to her when she say Luke's dopey smile as he looked at her with half-lidded eyes. Carol also knew that Luke could do something like that to her and it always made her feel on top of the world when he did it.

"I didn't realize you missed me that much~" Luke finally said, his dopey smile still present.

"Of course I did, silly," Carol started, taking her arms from around his neck before pulling out of the parking lot to the arcade. Soon the young couple started to chat about everything from Luke's job to the pile of homework they both had before finally Carol pulled up to the front of the Loud residence. Luke began to make his way out of the car before his girlfriend stopped him by gently grabbing his wrist.

"Hey Luther..." the blonde started, chewing on her bottom lip pensively "About our date..."

"Yeah? What about it?" Luke asked her, taking notice of the older girls suddenly anxious behaviour.

"Promise you won't get mad?" she asked, now looking up to him with her beautiful hazel eyes, Luke merely nodded at this, not trusting himself to speak. "Well, I was thinking that maybe instead of Putt-putt...maybe we could go out to that new dance club..." she finished, tracing circles into the center console with a bashful look on her face.

Luke wanted to groan, oh so badly did he want to, but he held it in before asking " _El_ _Plátano Loco_? Don't you have to be at least 21 to get in?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Oh don't worry, I have a way for us to get in!"

"Do you now?" Luke cheekily asked.

"Yeah, my Uncle Thomas knows the owner, I can totally get us in!" Carol excitedly said, her eyes sparkling in anticipation. Luke knew this was something he heard her talk about with some of her friends but he knew it wasn't his scene. However, he has been drug to underground rock concerts with Luna before so...

"Alright, we'll go there" the brown haired boy said, rolling his eyes but smiling at his girlfriend "What should I wear?"

"Wear you best suit and a red tie, I want us to match!" The blonde stated excitedly making Luke roll his eyes even more at her giddy behaviour "Sounds easy, anything else?" he asked her.

"Just one more thing, make sure Lincoln brings back my Back-Abom Silver game" the blonde said as Luke started to get out of the car "I will, calm down" he simply responded before closing the door and letting Carol drive off.

Once the car had disappeared around the corner, Luke turned towards the house but just as he took a step, his exhaustion finally hit him like a freight train, causing the teen to almost topple over but reluctantly Luke made his way to the house and let himself in.

"Luke's home!" Came the excited voice of one of the other twins in the family, Lana, which caused the heads of every other sibling to look at the front door where he stood, awkwardly waving.

"Oh, Luke, perfect timing" Lynn Sr said, making his way out of the dining room with Rita in tow, "Mind coming with us, Luther" the father stated with a furrow of his brow and a crossing of his arms. The boy, in his exhausted state, easily just complied with that and followed his parents back to the dining room and sat down across from them.

"Luther, your mother and I are disappointed in you for that stunt you pulled last night," Lynn Sr began, pausing only to gauge his sons reaction which wasn't much considering the state he's in, "You knew the rules and yet you broke them. And on a school night no less! So that is why we were just discussing your punishment and while I thought you having to go to school on almost no sleep at all was enough of a punishment, I received a rather interesting phone call from Mrs. Erikson earlier."

That got a reaction, Luke flinched at the mention of his science teacher, picking up on where this was going. "Luther, is there some reason you decided it was a good idea to pour corrosive material on your sister?" Rita asked, staring at her son in a bit of disbelief but still remaining stern towards him.

"I didn't mean to..." Came a weak and tired response from the teen, but the parents easily knew why it happened in the first place and that was what made them come to their conclusion on his punishment.

"No video games," Lynn Sr said and just before Luke could protest, Rita finished the statement "For three weeks" Luke groaned at this weakly but he knew it was only fair so he didn't complain seeing as how it could be worse for him.

"Ugh...fair" Luke started before remembering something important and immediately looked at his parents "Oh...um...Mom, Dad...is it okay if I go out of Friday?" he asked meekly.

Both parents look at their oldest son in shock and Luke seemed to pick up on this as he quickly explained, making sure that his sisters weren't going to hear this next bit "I...uh...I have a date...on Friday, that's why I-"

"EEEEEEEEEEE!" came the screeching sound of ten feminine voices from behind the boy and he didn't need to turn around to know that he shouldn't have said anything at all when it comes to romance. Needless to say however, Luke had to answer a ton of questions without giving away where he was going and who he was going with which proved to be a rather difficult feat to pull off with nosey sisters. By the time they had finished asking him questions, Luke was on the brink of passing out and once his head touched his pillow, that was exactly what happened.

Friday quickly approached before anyone knew it and while the week had progressed as normal there was only one thing that felt off. All throughout the week Lori had been trying to get Luke alone, seemingly wanting to 'talk' but if the past had taught the boy anything; its that if Lori wants you alone, then you'll either walk away angry or injured and Luke had dealt with both before.

The bell signaling for the end of the school day had just rung and luckily for Luke and all of the high schoolers, Lori was given the car that morning which helped to make the journey home a lot smoother. Once the five teens were loaded up in Vanzilla, they quickly made their way to pick up the rest of the Loud kids with car filling with idle chatter as per the usual but again, something was off and with a casual glance over, Luke noticed Lori looking at him from the rearview mirror which isn't helped by the fact that out of all the blue-eyed siblings, Lori's eye color was a piercing, glacial blue which makes anyone feel a little unnerved when she stares at you like a lion does a gazelle before it strikes.

Luckily the ride ended quickly and before Lori could even open her mouth, Luke was pulled out of his seat by Leni who had been planning on dressing him up for that night. After a lot of excited babbling and Leni taking every one of Luke's measurements, the teen found himself looking at his big sister as she started to bring a rather dazzling tuxedo into the world that would make 004 jealous. "Say Leni, could yo-WHOA!" Luke started to say before he was suddenly pulled from the room by the pink, pageant princess Lola.

Now sitting at a small, plastic table, the teen was now staring at his six year-old sister who was trying to teach him etiquette for his date. "Alright Lukey, listen up!" she screamed, making her brother have to rub his ears.

"I'm right here Lola..." Luke growled out, still trying to get the ringing in his ears to stop.

"Is that how you plan to talk to the lady on your date?" the girl asked, leaning forward to try and intimidate the older boy.

"What're you...?" Luke started to ask before quickly standing up upon realizing what she was doing "Not a chance! Nope! Ain't happenin'!"

"Don't you walk out on me!"

"Stop making this weird!"

"Not until you know how to treat a lady!"

With that, Luke was now occupied with prying a now homicidal Lola off of him. Now in usual circumstances, Luke would humor his little sister but today, he had a mission and wasn't about to let his sisters ruin it and while he was distracted, Lori took this as her chance to finally talk to her brother.

Suddenly Lola was pulled off of Luke and as he went to thank whichever sibling had helped him, he wasn't expecting to be met by none other than Lori. "We _literally_ need to talk, Luke" the eldest said, dropping the squirming Lola unceremoniously onto the floor and just as the princess opened her mouth, she was met with a harsh glare, making the words die in her throat.

The two siblings had walked downstairs and into the backyard, stopping at the fence before Lori decided to start leaning against it. There was a comfortable yet awkward silence between the two. Luke wanted to break the silence after a few moments had passed but Lori beat him to the punch.

"Luke, I'm gonna just cut to the chase here," she started, turning to meet her brothers eyes, "Are you going on the date with Carol?"

That question made Luke actually start to cough from saliva going down the wrong pipe. Lori walked over and patted his back, aiding him as best as she could. Luke, now visibly shocked at the question, answered swiftly "No, I'm going on a date with a girl by the name of Bethany. Gary thought it'd be better for me to try and get back into dating."

This answered seemed to make Lori more suspicious of him as she shot back "Then where's this Bethany girl from?"

"Don't know, haven't met her in person before."

"Oh, well then you won't mind if Boo-boo Bear and I tag along, make this a double date y'know?"

That statement made Luke's blood run cold but he always had a plan at the ready for when this moment happened. "That would be fun but I wouldn't want you and Bobby to freak her out with the whole smooching thing. I mean like, how could win at Putt-putt if you're busy sucking face" Luke hoped that his seed was successfully planted "Oops! I shouldn't have said that!" Luke said, pretending that he revealed a secret.

"Putt-putt? That's the date? Then why is Leni making a suit?"

"Cause it's cosplay Putt-putt?" Luke started before taking a deep breath and continuing "Its, something I heard couples do to have fun" he finished, pretending to be nonchalant about it.

The silence returns and after a few minutes, Lori smiled at her little brother, seemingly believing him, "Then I guess we'll be seeing each other tonight then" the eldest said before turning and heading back into the house. Luke let out a sigh of relief before making his way into the house and heading straight for his room. Once in there, Luke leans against the door and calls out to the only other occupant in there.

"Lincoln, we've got a situation!"

A familiar head of white hair peeks up over the top bunk, staring down at Luke. After a quick descend from the bed, Lincoln stood before his brother, a look of concern on his face "What happened, Luke?" The eleven year-old asks, making Luke recount what had just happened outside.

"What am I gonna do, Linc?" the older boy asked, starting to panic but the ashen-haired boy grabbed his brothers shoulders before shaking him lightly.

"Luke, I have a plan and a perfect one at that. How about Operation Midnight Stroll?"

"You really think that'll work? You'd be by yourself and they already outnumber us..."

"I'll handle them, you enjoy yourself, alright? It might seem like its too much for me but you gotta trust me. Alright?" Luke still seemed very pensive about leaving his little brother by himself, especially knowing how far Lincoln is willing to go to help his only brother, but Luke knows deep down that if one day the roles were reversed, then he'd do the same for Lincoln.

Taking a deep breath, Luke looks his little brother in the eye, the two sharing a smile as Lincoln went about explaining his plan and, with Luke's help, getting it put into action.

Spending the last of their time getting everything in place, the two brothers seemed to be confident by the end of the set up for the Operation. "Now all you have to do is make sure you aren't seen leaving the house. Are the rope and harnesses still here?" Lincoln asked to which his brother pulled the two aforementioned items out from the corner, making the boy smile "Well then with that, we're ready to get started" Lincoln stated before pulling out a game cartridge from his pocket to hand to Luke "And can you make sure to tell her I said 'Thanks for letting me borrow the game'?"

"Sure thing, Linc, it's the least I can do" Luke said, taking the game and pocketing the small item, "Now then..." he zipped up his jumpsuit over his fancy suit, "It's Showtime."

 _ **Another chapter wrapped and while originally I had planned on adding the date, I feel as though that would've been too much to this already long chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it and I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday Season. Until next time, Stay Tuned Readers!**_


	3. Date Night

Not So Loud...

 _ **Hey guys, sorry for the late update. Holidays and all that but the schedule will be back on track. I'm glad you all are enjoying the story as much as I'm loving to write it so without further ado, Enjoy!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: The Loud House is owned by Nickelodeon**_

 _Date Night_

To say the beginning of the operation went off without a hitch would be an understatement to the two brothers. Lincoln had done his part at distracting the sisters well enough that it allowed Luke to easily repel down the side of the house and sneak away. Now the teen stood at his usual spot, waiting for Carol.

Soon a familiar silver car came around the corner and stopped in front of him, knowing exactly who it was, Luke got in. "Man, took you long eno-" he began but soon stopped upon seeing his girlfriend. Carol seemed to have chosen a stunningly gorgeous red, form fitting dress with her hair styled into a very burlesque look that would put Jennifer Bunny to shame. Oddly enough however, Carol was just as captivated by Luke who was wearing an incredibly sharp suit, complete with an expertly tied red tie to match her dress, and with his long hair put up into a messy, yet stylish, bun.

"Uh...uh...uh" the two said simultaneously as they drank in each others looks before Luke quickly composed himself and spoke.

"You look..." he began, pausing to try and find the right word before leaning to Carol's face, "Ravishing" he finished before planting a kiss on Carol's lipstick covered lips.

The actions and words seemed to have broken the girl because soon after Luke pulled away, the blonde was doing her interpretation on a fish out of water. The two sat there a while, Luke smugly grinning at his girlfriend who had managed to regain enough of a composure to start driving. Due to how close The Louds live to the downtown area, the drive wasn't more than a couple of minutes and in that time, Carol had regained her composure while Luke had silenced his phone.

Upon pulling up to the front door, the young couple was greeted by a Valet who soon took their car and drove off to find a parking space for them. Carol soon wrapped her arm around the crook of Luke's as the two made it to the bouncer.

"Name?" The large, muscular man said, holding a clipboard as he looked at the two.

"Pingrey" Carol replied with ease and after a quick check of the list, the bouncer pulled back the rope and gestured for them to enter. As the two entered and the door began to shut however, Luke heard a voice he wasn't expecting to hear after the bouncer asked for a name.

"The name's Loud." It was the voice of his dad, Lynn Loud Sr. and he could only assume that his mom was with him.

Luke hastened his pace to a table in a dark corner of the club, completely ignoring Carol's slight winces of pain from her boyfriend practically dragging her. The blonde pulled her arm free, now reasonably irritated at her boyfriends rough handling "Luke, what the hell?" she said, rubbing her arm to alleviate some of the pain.

"Sorry Carol," he said as he started to duck down into his chair, trying to hide as best he could, "I just didn't want Dad to see me" he finished. This caught Carol's attention as she looked at the teen before looking at the front door, catching a glimpse of the aforementioned patriarch, the matriarch leaning against him. The blonde quickly looking back at her panicking boyfriend, Luke now starting to sweat bullets.

"Luke, why are you so nervous? It's not like we haven't been in the same place as your family before" Carol stated, as she watched Luke start to sit back up right in his chair.

"That's not why I'm nervous though," he started, keeping his voice to a whisper before looking over his shoulder in an attempt to find his parents and after seeing where they were, he turned back around "I'm nervous cause of what happened earlier."

Knowing that Carol was gonna ask, Luke simply dove right into telling Carol of what had happened since they had change their date plans. By the end of it, the young woman was still very much confused about Luke's behavior. "Why are you worried about Lori finding out?" she asked, now curious about her boyfriend's behavior about their relationship.

"Because you're her archrival and she can't stand the idea of even being near you" Luke stated matter-of-factly as he looked over his shoulder again.

"Her archrival? Why am I her archrival?"

"I don't know, apparently she doesn't like that you beat her at stuff."

"Beat her at...? Oh you've gotta be kidding me! What is she, seven?!" Carol shouted, quickly being hushed by other patrons. She continued, now in a harsh whisper "Is that why she's been avoiding me at school?! Because she lost a couple of stupid competitions?!"

"I don't know, maybe? I never really bother with her private life."

Carol threw her arms up indignantly before crossing them over her chest and pouting. While Luke knew her frustration, he couldn't deny that Carol's pouting was always adorable to see but before he could say anything, he heard a familiar song start to play and almost immediately he knew he had to dance. Suddenly getting up from the table and grabbing Carol's hand, they made their way to the dance floor where other patrons were dancing.

It didn't take long for the young couple to start to get into the flow of the music playing, the two of them easily having a great time swinging to the fast pace of the music that the band was playing. They seemed to be enjoying it so much that they hadn't noticed that one of the camera's in the club had been following them for a while now.

On the monitor side to that camera were nine shocked faces of Luke's sisters, as they took in what they were seeing. Everyone, save for Lori and Lincoln, were watching the screen in Lisa and Lily's room, "Dude, this is bad! This is real bad!" Exclaimed Luna as she gripped her hair.

"Maybe she forced him on the date" Lynn Jr said, looking at her older sister.

"Highly unlikely, if Pingrey was forcing him to do this, our older brother unit would have spoken up or simply declined the offer" Lisa tried to reason out, still not believing what she was seeing on the monitor in front of her.

"I told you guys that you wouldn't like what you saw..." a voice said, the girls now turning to the source of it. Lincoln was still bound to the chair that the sisters had left him in, his head hanging in shame at having betrayed his big brother. The white haired boy began to sniffle and tears began to buildup in his eyes as the idea of Luke not trusting him anymore started to make his heart ache and this got a reaction from the sisters, causing Luan to make her way over to the boy.

"C'mon Linc, cheer up. It's not like you told us easily, we had to force it outta you" the comedienne said, putting a hand on her little brothers shoulder "Besides, we're not gonna tell Lori."

"What?!" came the surprised voices of the other sisters.

"Dude, we have to tell Lori!" Luna exclaimed.

"We can't! Remember what happened last time Luke did something like this?! He and Lori had to be handcuffed to sturdy parts of the house!" Luan countered, a small chill running up her spine as she remembered the Chet incident.

The others seemed to have remembered that as well because they all shook a bit in fear. They never thought they'd see either of their siblings that violent before. This seemed to have convinced them that Luan was right as the brunette moved to untie Lincoln, a bit of her own guilt setting in as she remembered how she had just threatened to make Lincoln her sole target on April Fools if he didn't tell.

Once he was free, Lincoln wiped his eyes and looked at his sisters, trying to tell if they were true to their word or not. "Don't worry, brah, we promise not to tell" Luna said, giving Lincoln a determined look, but the eleven year-old looked over to the second oldest sister, Leni, knowing that the blonde didn't have the ability to keep secrets that well.

"What?" Leni asked as she saw everyone looking at her.

"Leni," Lincoln began, walking up to the tall blonde "You can't tell Lori about this."

"About what?" she asked, looking around at everyone with a look of confusion before giving a sly wink and smirk. The gesture made everyone catch on almost instantly to what the second born was doing which let them all sigh in relief at it.

"Do you think they've already said the words?" Lola asked, after a few moments of silence passed, causing all the girl to squeal in excitement while Lincoln was left confused.

"The words?" he asked, looking at them all.

"Y'know, like, _the_ words" Leni said.

"The big three" Luna added.

"The L bomb" Lynn added as well. Lincoln still remained confused until it finally clicked for him and he started to smile.

"I don't know about Carol, but I've heard Luke say that he does" Lincoln stated, remembering his older brothers face when he came to the realization a couple of weeks back. That statement seemed to been enough as the girls squealed again at that before turning back to the screens in excitement rather than the shock they held a few minutes ago. Once they all turned back, they saw that Luke and Carol had moved back to their table and were now laughing at something.

"I c-can't believe you dressed up as your sister before" Carol exclaimed, gasping for air as the image of her boyfriend dressing up as his twin had popped into her head.

"It was a stupid bet," Luke began, his own smile forming as he looked at his girlfriend lovingly before adding "The skirt wasn't the worst part though, it was the panties." That statement sent Carol over the edge, sending her into a laughing fit which was cut off by a snort.

When the sound came out however, the blonde immediately covered her mouth in embarrassment. "Sorry about that" she apologized meekly, her cheeks now a light pink.

"Damn, I love you..." Luke stated dreamily as he gazed at his thoroughly embarrassed girlfriend, who's entire face flushed red after hearing what he said and Luke realized he had said his thoughts aloud "Shit! Uh...I mean...uh...dammit..." he said defeatedly after failing to catch himself.

"Uh...I...uh..." Carol stumbled out, trying to find the right words to respond to those sudden words. She knew they had been dating for almost six months and while Luke has shown her affection in the past, she never marked him as someone who would say the word. Yet here he was in front of her with a blush on his face, looking away from her. The blonde couldn't help herself as she felt her body start to move on its own as she got up, grabbed Luke's hand and left the club altogether.

After getting her car and driving a couple of blocks, she stopped in an empty parking lot and it finally occurred to her that Luke was calling her name but she didn't care because soon her lips were pressed against his as she started to put as much passion as she could into it.

When she finally broke for air, she spoke. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting to hear you say that to me" Carol said as she looked at Luke dreamily before continuing "Luther, I can't tell you how happy that makes me, knowing how you feel about me" she finished.

"Did we need to leave the club though? You could've said and done all of this in there" Luke stated, a little lightheaded from the kiss and confused by what Carol had decided to do because of his slip.

"I wanted to make sure no-one interrupted us" she began, leaning closer to his face and purring out "Because I want to savor this moment." The blonde then kissed her boyfriend again but this time with more passion behind it.

It was around Eleven-o-clock by the time Luke came clamoring through the door, too tired to climbed through the window and not caring if anyone was still up, due to the fact that there was no school tomorrow and typically dates have gone as late as midnight before. Once the door was shut and locked however, Luke was met with a surprise in the living room. Lori was still up and she was glaring at her younger brother.

"Where were you?" the oldest sister asked, her gaze piercing right through Luke as she waited for his explanation.

"Go Karting" the teen responded easily, having been preparing his answer all night but it proved to be the wrong answer as Lori shot out of her seat.

"Go Karting? Go Karting?! What the fuck happened to Putt-putt?!" she screamed, stomping her way up to her little brother before grabbing him by the front of his suit and slamming into the front door. At this point, if her screaming and swearing didn't wake everyone up, the sound of Luke slamming into the door definitely did because room doors were soon thrown open and the entire family was now standing in the living room.

"Lorraine, what do you think you're doing?! Let go of your brother!" Lynn Sr. declared from his room door, seeing his oldest daughter practically manhandling his oldest son.

"Not until he answers my question!" Lori shot back, ignoring how disrespectful she was being towards her dad. She soon turned back to the teen in her grip but by now Luke had gotten a good look at Lori's face, and he saw what looked to be faint tear streaks on her cheeks and how show lacked any of her usual makeup.

"I'm sorry if I made you worried, Lori" the teen said in a gentle tone towards his, understandably, angry sister. The apology seemed to have caught Lori a bit by surprise as she seemed to release her brothers clothes before softening her gaze at him.

"I tried to call you..." she muttered out, her anger slowly ebbing away before diminishing completely.

"I turned my phone off, I'm sorry."

"Just...let me know next time plans change, Luke..." Lori sighed before wrapping her brother into a hug, intentionally squeezing him hard as he started to panic and fight for air. Her own way of getting a small bit of revenge on him for making her worry. Once he was released however, everyone took that as their que to go back to bed with the two teens following suit.

After making it to his room, Luke was met with the hushed, questions of his little brother but they were stopped as soon as Lincoln got a whiff of his brother. "Is that..." he began before taking another sniff "Is that Burpin Burger I smell?" he asked.

"We uh...we kinda got a little hungry afterwards...eheheheh" Luke said nervously as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Aw man, you should've gotten me something" Lincoln whined out as he looked at his older brother who simply laughed at the behavior before grabbing some stuff to get ready for a shower.

"I'll get you some tomorrow, Lincoln. Promise." Luke said as he left the room to shower before finally getting to rest afterwards, knowing he was gonna have some questions to answer in the morning.

 _ **Well that wraps things up for Chapter 3 of Not So Loud. Things might be amping up with The Loud Sisters finding out Luke's secret and while Leni can seem to keep a secret, there's one that they seemed to have overlooked. Here's hoping she doesn't blab, but we'll find out in due time. Until next time, Stay tuned, Readers!**_


	4. Bro's Day Out

Not So Loud...

 _ **Hey everyone, I'm glad you all are enjoying the story so far. For today though, I have somethings planned that I hope you all enjoy. So without further ado, Enjoy!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: The Loud House is owned by Nickelodeon**_

 _Bro's Day Out_

Saturday is usually the only day of the week when The Loud House is at its most quiet. At least until the older kids got up near the afternoon, but this particular Saturday had some of the light sleepers jolting awake from their trips to Slumberville.

"AH!" came a sudden scream from the living room, causing three of the kids to come running out of their rooms and down the stairs. All of them still clad in their pajamas as they looked on in worry but the looks soon turned to one's of annoyance as they looked at what had happened.

"That wasn't funny, Luke!" Lana said, crossing her arms and pouting at her older brother, who in turn was holding his stomach as he laughed at the shocked expressions of his little sisters.

"Oh, c'mon Lans, I gotta have some fun while you two tinker away at this thing" the teen said as he gestured to his left leg that was propped up on the coffee table, showing its metallic appearance.

"While I understand that an intricate check such as this can be quite uneventful, I highly doubt that should warrant such behavior, Eldest brother" Lisa said simply, adjusting her glasses with one hand while still holding a clipboard in the other.

"You had me worried sick!" spoke Lola as she glared at her brother from her seat on the couch.

"Poo Poo!" Lily added as she gave her own small glare from Luke's lap.

"Alright, alright! I'm sorry!" Luke said, raising his hands in defeat before turning towards Lana "I'm real sorry, Lana" he stated, patting the small mechanic on her head.

The gesture seemed to have worked, if only by a small bit, as all the little sisters seemed to forgive him as they slowly turned back to what they were doing, still sending him their small glares as they did, and that's when Luke noticed the three sets of annoyed eyes looking at him.

"Oh! When'd you all get here?" he asked as he looked between Luna, Lincoln, and Lori who all seemed to be less than thrilled about the rude awakening.

" _Literally_ two seconds ago" Lori said, starting to tap her barefoot on the carpet as if she was expecting Luke to say something, before throwing her hand up indignantly and started to make her way to the kitchen for some breakfast and coffee with Luna in tow. Lincoln still lingered however, his annoyance fading only to be replaced with curiosity as he stared at his brothers prosthetic leg.

Luke tended to almost never walk around anywhere without something covering his legs and feet and for the life of him, Lincoln couldn't really remember exactly when Luke had lost the limb but at the same time, the snow haired boy didn't care because he had always considered it kind of cool and Luke never seems to mind when he asks questions about it.

"Y'know it's rude to stare, Lincoln" Luke said as he started rolling his sweatpants leg down, over the leg.

"O-oh! Sorry!" Lincoln squeaked out, his face starting to glow slightly red at being caught but the teen simply laughed at this and shook his head. Luke began to get up off of the couch, moving Lily into his seat next to Lola.

Walking over, the brown haired teen smiled at his little brother before saying "You ready for the day?" That question easily confusing Lincoln as it took him longer than it should have to remember what Luke had promised him last night. Upon remembering however, his face lit up like Christmas as he quickly ran back upstairs to get ready. Luke chuckled at his little brothers enthusiasm before realizing he needed to get ready himself and proceeded to make his way to the stairs but quickly fell on his face.

The teen quickly turned his head back, only to see a small, smug grin on a certain blonde haired mechanic as she casually twirled her screwdriver in her hand "Whoops, did I forget to put a screw back in?" she asked, looking at her downed brother.

"Alright already, Lanes, I get it and I won't do it again. Pinky swear." Luke said, raising the aforementioned digit up to his little sister. Lana wasn't easily convinced as she looked between the digit and her older brother before walking over and wrapping her small pinky around Luke's obviously bigger one and went about putting the screw back in its place.

After a few quick movement tests, Luke hopped onto his feet before dashing up the stairs and into his room where Lincoln was hoping on one foot while trying to put on his jeans and talk into his walkie-talkie. "I can ask him, Clyde but I don't think-AH!" Lincoln said as he finally fell on his rear.

"Need help?" Luke asked, extending a hand to the white haired boy. Lincoln easily accepted it before finally pulling on his jeans and, after a short search, his signature orange polo. Luke himself only needed to grab a couple of things and he'd be ready.

"Let's see...wallet, keys, phone...wait..." the older boy mumbled out before starting to frantically search his desk drawers and after slamming all of them shut, Luke realized one thing. He gave Carol his hair tie last night and forgot to get it back, which meant he had to borrow one and that is no small feat to accomplish.

"What's up, Luke?" Lincoln asked, clearly worried for his brother after seeing his frantic searching.

"I don't have my hair tie..."

"I don't see how that's a-oh" Lincoln said, remembering why that was a problem, "Maybe Luan has a spare scrunchie you can use" he threw out but they both knew that wasn't an option and asking Lori would yield no results either but Luke remembered one other option he had and it wasn't going to be easy.

"C'mon Lana, I just need to borrow one of them!" Luke pleaded with the pigtails wearing girl who in turn was shaking her head at him, clearly uncomfortable with the idea of giving up one of her scrunchies even if it was for only an hour or so.

"Nuh uh, Luke, can't do that. You might lose one and I'm not walking around in a ponytail."

"Then wear it down and keep the other one on your wrist" Lincoln threw in which made the small handywoman bristle at that idea.

"Lans, it's just for the day and I promise not to lose it. What do I have to do to make you trust me with it?" Luke borderline pleaded with her but the question proved to be the wrong one as he saw a smile slowly creep onto her face.

"You teach me how to make your Level 3 Stink Bombs and you got a deal" she said, extending her hand but just before Luke accepted it, Lincoln jumped in to stop it.

"Level 1 and we bring you back a burger and some chocolate crickets" Lincoln countered which got the girl thinking before she smirked.

"Make those chocolate crickets into some of those really expensive earthworms from the bait shop and it's a deal."

"Deal" Lincoln said before shaking Lana's extended hand.

The handywoman took her hand back before reach one of her scrunchies and undoing the braid before extending the tie to Luke, who in turn accepted it and began putting his hair into a ponytail while Lana took out her other braid, letting her hair free.

"Say _that_ word to me and the deal's off" Lana stated once her blonde locks were freed, clearly knowing what the two were going to say before turning on her heel and going back downstairs with the two brothers in tow behind her.

"Alright everyone, we'll be back in a little bit" Luke said as he and Lincoln made their way to the front door, completely ignoring Lori and, a now awake, Leni gushing over how cute Lana looked with her hair down while the small, greasemonkey sat there with a blush slowly gathering on her face.

Lincoln always enjoyed riding in the sidecar on Luke's moped, it always felt so freeing to him to feel the wind in his face without having to put in the work of pedaling. Luke was only ever allowed to drive his moped on the weekends and that was if no one could or, in the case with Lori, would take him somewhere which is why Lincoln enjoyed it even more. The ride to Burpin' Burger was uneventful as the two pulled into the parking lot but just before Luke turned it off, Lincoln spoke up.

"Hey, Luke, you think maybe we could go to the comic book store after? There's this trivia bowl thing going on and Zach just told Clyde that he had to cancel."

"Trivia Bowl? You entered a trivia bowl? Why? I thought you didn't usually like those things"

"I don't, but first place gets an Ace Savvy Utility Belt _with_ his signature deck!"

Luke, in all honesty, wasn't surprised by what the prize was, "Y'know, for covering for me last night, we'll do that" he said, a smile appearing on his face before noticing Lincoln's shameful expression appearing.

"What's wrong, Linc?"

"Uh...Luke...about that..."

"What? Did something happen? Did the plan fail?"

"Yeah and...well..." Lincoln started chewing on his bottom lip nervously, no longer able to look at his brother as he finished his statement "They know the truth..."

"What?!" Luke shouted, the color draining from his face at the revelation from his little brother.

"Luke, I-I'm so sorry! I didn't want to tell them but I didn't have a choice!" Lincoln said, his cerulean eyes starting to mist over as he confessed to his brother.

"Who all knows?" The teen asked, his gaze towards the boy hardening slightly.

"E-everyone but L-Lori...Luke, I-I'm real sorry" The snow-haired boy replied, tears now starting to pool in his eyes. The older brother noticed this and began to calm himself as he reached out to pull the younger boy into a side hug, realizing how much weight he had suddenly put on the poor kid.

"Hey, hey Linc, it's okay. I'm not mad at you."

"Y-you're not?"

"'Course not, I should've figured that it would've been a bit much on you. Especially with that mob mentality of theirs. So, no, I'm not mad." Luke finished, letting his little brother wipe his tears away.

After a couple of minutes of Luke calming his brother, a question sprung up in his mind. "Say Lincoln, why weren't the girls acting any different if they knew?" He asked as they finally started to make their way towards the restaurant, the question causing Lincoln to stop for a second with Luke stopping right after.

"Because of Lori, we all know how bad it'd be if she knew so we choose to pretend to stay in the dark about it." Lincoln said, having picked up his pace as he explained. Luke easily understood and was thankful for that because the last thing he needed was Lori on his back about his girlfriend.

After ordering their food, choosing to swing buy on the way home so Lana's burger would be fresh, the two brothers sat about eating and talking about random thing but one thing caught Luke's ear. "Someone gave you a skateboard? You don't even know how to stand on one" Luke said just before taking a fistful of fries and shoveling them into his mouth.

"Not just 'Someone', the toughest girl in school gave it to me." The younger boy stated, still amazed at the gift but Luke had a feeling he knew where the board came from.

"Say Lincoln, this girl, was she a small hispanic girl in a purple hoodie?"

"Yea, that sounds like Ronnie Anne."

"Ronnie Anne? Huh...if it works for her" Luke said with a shrug but before Lincoln could ask how Luke knew her, a familiar voice spoke.

"Well well well, look at what we have here boys." The familiar voice, one that Luke wasn't in the mood to hear, had said. With a slight turn in his seat, the older Loud boy came face to face with the three people he wanted to see the least, especially when he was trying to have a day with Lincoln. The faces of his old friends turned meatheads; Bradley, Reggie and their leader Darrell. The unstoppable trio of Royal Woods Varsity Football Team.

"Ah, Darrell, just who I was hoping to see today" Luke stated, sarcasm oozing from his tone as he looked at the three hulking figures, taking note to keep their attention on him and not Lincoln. He's already seen Lincoln cry once today and he'll be damned if it happened again.

"So where's our lunch, Willy?" Reggie, a dirty blond teen, asked smugly as they continued to look down at the teen.

"Still back there in the freezer, ya big ape, go get it." Luke stated simply before turning to Darrell, a black haired teen who was the QB, and asking with a bit of venom in his voice, "What do you morons want?"

"What? We saw you in the window as we were driving by and thought it'd be fun to say hi" the teen paused before turning his eyes to the eleven year-old sitting next to Luke and something dawned on him. Smiling a bit crookedly, something that put the two Louds on edge for different reasons, he opened his mouth "You must be Larry, my baby bro's been talking so much about you, how's the leg?."

Lincoln noticeably flinched at the name while Luke subtly inched closer to his brother, just in case something happened. "Darrell, step off" the brunette warned, taking a tone that Lincoln had never heard from his brother before but had heard several times whenever Lynn was about to lose her temper. A tone that spoke of violence and rage that Lincoln didn't think could ever come from his usually laid back brother.

"Tch, whatever," the raven-haired jock paused to take a small step back before continuing, his smile now gone "I actually need something from ya, Willy." Darrell then reached into his letterman jacket pocket before pulling out a piece of paper and dropping it in front of Luke "Give Belle my number, will ya? Have her call me sometime and tell her she won't regret it. Okay, Willy? Think you can do that? Or is that to hard for you?" Darrell said, his tone going from cocky to mocking throughout his spiel.

"You already know her answer, why even try?" Luke stated, causing the teen to glare at him.

"Because dipshit," he paused before quickly grabbing Luke's hair and slamming his head into the table and continued "If you say it, then she'll have to yes, right?"

Before Luke could respond however, Lincoln spoke instead "I'll make sure she gets it, just let him go!"

The three seemed to chuckle at that, easily telling that the boy feared for his brother before the raven-haired teen released the aforementioned brunette and turning to leave with the other two in tow with one of them, Bradley, saying "You could learn some things from him, Willy, kid at least knows how to stay in his place."

Upon leaving, Luke sat himself back up, clutching his head slightly before shaking it and looking at Lincoln. Neither of them said anything as the older brother gained his bearings and the younger one trying to calm himself down from what just happened. While Lincoln does have a thick skin typically, the last couple of weeks have shown that some stuff can still get through to him and he was almost at his wits end with it.

"Lincoln."

The white-haired boy was pulled from his own musings as he heard his name. Looking back, Lincoln saw that Luke had fixed himself as best he could and was now staring at him with a worried expression. Lincoln couldn't help but give his own brother the same expression but Luke merely waved it off before he spoke.

"Are you okay? We can go home if you want."

Lincoln shook his head, "I'm okay," he paused before his usual bright smile appeared "Just ready to get that belt!"

With that said, the two made their way to the mall and after finding a parking spot, they were heading towards the comic book store. "You sure she's willing to fill in for Liam?" Lincoln asked as Luke reached for the door to the comic book store but seeing as though he was looking back at Lincoln and not ahead, he didn't notice someone had opened the door until it was too late. Two cries of shock could be heard, followed by people hitting the ground as Lincoln saw his brother collide into the older sister of the girl they were just talking about.

"Sheesh Luke, watch where you're going next time" came the voice of a slightly annoyed beauty, Isabelle Quinzel Thomas or as the Louds call her for short, QT.

"Sorry 'bout that," Luke started, getting off the ground before extending his hand to his downed friend "Was too busy telling Lincoln about Zach's replacement" he finished as the taller girl got back on her feet.

"Yeah, Renee's been talking my ear off about that belt all week."

"I can only imagine how that must be, Linc just told me earlier."

"Belle, it's about to-" came the voice of QT's little sister, Renee before stopping upon seeing Lincoln and she started glaring at him, "Oh, you're already here. Good, now c'mon. It's almost started!" the smaller, brunette grabbed his wrist before pulling him into the store, leaving the two older teens just outside.

"Man, she's still not over that is she?" Luke asked, looking up slightly at his friend as she giggled at the question.

"Nah, but can you blame her? I mean I've seen dirty moves be used before but a fan? That's just cruel" Belle responded before noticing the slightly small bruise on Luke's cheek "Run in with the three horndogs?"

"Eyup and Darrell wanted the usual" Luke replied with ease as the two started to walk towards their favorite store, the teenage boy now noticing Belle's wardrobe change "What's up with the casual look? Thought you'd be wearing that tube top dress like you normally do."

"Nope, needs to be cleaned so I went with the classics" Belle said, gesturing to her shirt and jean combo. Luke simply rolled his eyes before pulling the door open to Calamity Games, a video/board games shop that the two frequented a lot. Walking in, the two gamers were greeted by the sound of game trailers being played on the displays as well as the low roars of conversation as the other patrons of the store were discussing all sorts of things.

"Queen! Retro! Welcome back!" Greeted a blue-haired woman.

"Hey, Berry, what's up?" Luke asked upon seeing the familiar face. Berry, or Blu3Berry as her gamertag says, is a diminutive woman who usually is seen having dyed her hair in some color typically associated with a berry. Luke and Belle had met her a couple of years ago after she had just graduated from High school and after helping her deal with some rude customers once, the three became good friends and even party members in online games.

"Not much dude, haven't seen you on all week. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine, just got grounded for doing a late night raid earlier this week so I'm banned for like two more weeks."

"Ooooh" Berry and Belle said in unison at the relevation. They soon offered him pats on the back in sympathy but Luke easily shrugged them off, the punishment not really bothering him.

"It's not a big deal, i just can't play video games, but board games are fair play."

With that said, Luke started to make his way over to the corner where they kept their board games, merch, and a small collection of some Caverns & Centaurs books. A few minutes had passed at the store, and before he realized it, the door flew open to reveal three eleven year-olds with two of them bickering to each other over something.

"Well _I_ should get to have it today! I answered the tiebreaker!" Renee declared, crossing her arms over her chest.

"But _I_ answered the most questions for us to even have the tiebreaker!" Lincoln countered, glaring at the small brunette.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What's going on here?" Belle asked as she walked up to the three with Luke in tow.

"Snow bunny here thinks that he should get to wear the belt but I think I should get it, I won it for us!" Renee stated, throwing in a pout to her older sister while Luke looked over to the two remaining boys, Lincoln pouting while Clyde simple admiring the utility belt with nothing but sparkles in his glasses-clad eyes.

"Why not just go in alphabetic order of first name?" Luke asked simply which caused Renee to change from a pout to a glare that was directed towards the older Loud.

"That means I'd get it last!"

"But it also means that all of you just get it for a day before you trade it off" Belle threw out, siding with Luke's idea. The younger brunette glared at the two teens now before letting out a defeated sigh.

"Fine, I guess we can do that..." She muttered out.

"It seems fair" Lincoln added, just as dejectedly.

"YES!" Clyde declared as he quickly clasping the belt to his waist, ignoring the sour looks of the other two. With that small problem solved and both older siblings buying their younger ones some video games to stop their pouting, the five left the mall. The Louds began to make their way home, stopping to get the items they had promised Lana on the way.

"We're h-" Luke was stopped by the sudden tackle of a certain blonde child.

"Give it back, now!" Lana declared, boring a hole into Luke as he noticed how pink her face was.

"Fine, fine" He said before taking off the tie a giving it to her alongside her food and worms. Lana quickly snatched the items and made a mad dash for her room, leaving the two brothers in the doorway.

"Hey dudes, how was your day?" Luna asked before noticing the bruise on Luke's cheek and her calm gaze hardened and without being asked, Luke told his twin about the day they had.

 _ **Well that wraps another chapter of Not So Loud and with the introduction of several new people that Luke seems to have some history with. Will we see the trio again? Will the Thomas Sisters return? Only time will tell, but Until then, Stay Tuned Readers!**_


	5. Chemistry Catastrophe

Not So Loud...

 _ **Hey everyone, sorry it took so long to get this one out, but I hope you all are excited for this one because I've been having so much fun hammering out the details so without further ado, Enjoy!**_

 _Chemistry Catastrophe_

"Hey Luke! You hear a joke about paper?" came the familiar voice of a young prankster, her statement making her older brother groan.

"Woodchuck, please d-" He began before being cut off by the comedienne.

"Nevermind, it's _tearable_! Hahaha, get it?" she finished, smiling brightly as she sat down across from her brother at the lunch table. Luke groaned at the joke, even louder than before.

"Woodchuck, did you have to make your opening statement a joke? You could've just said hi" Luke said, looking at the younger brunette, easily using his nickname for her.

"I could've, but that wouldn't have been as funny. Besides, I need your help."

"And you thought opening with a joke would get me to say yes?" Luke asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Please, big brother!" Luan pleaded, adding a puppy-dog pout, knowing how quickly he would break from her little act. Luke however, tried his best to remain stern and unflinching about it and it would've worked, had Luan not started to quiver her bottom lip and whimper.

"Ugh! Fine! What do you need help with?" Luke stated, finally breaking down.

"Yay!" Luan exclaimed upon getting confirmation from her brother, "Okay, so you know how I have theatre after lunch?"

"Well being the technician who's going to be there, yes." Luke stated with a blank stare at her.

"Well...I was thinking that, maybe..." Luan started to say before she began to trail off which started to infuriate the older brunette.

"Luan, what is it? I can't help you if you don't tell me" he said blankly, making the girl even more nervous with her request.

"IwannaaskBennyonadate!" she said quickly, almost indecipherable due to how rushed together the words were. It took Luke a few moments to completely gather what Luan had said but once he did, he couldn't help but start to laugh. Something Luan wasn't expecting as a reaction as anyone can tell by her pink cheeks and hanging head.

After a couple of minutes, Luke finally got himself under control. "Okay, so why do you need my help? You're a big girl, just ask him out" he stated, making Luan look up at him with a small glare.

"It's not that easy...I get too nervous around him" she admitted, rubbing her arm nervously. Luke understood this all too well, having remembered what an absolute nightmare it was when he tried to ask Carol out on their first date, especially when he didn't have anyone he could get advice from without telling who it was he was trying to ask out.

"Alright, alright. What do you need me to do, Woodchuck?" Luke asked, garnering a bright smile from his little sister.

"I just need to get somewhere private before class to ask him. And I was thinking that maybe you could distract Mrs. Bernardo. She might make it more awkward."

Luke thought it over for a moment, knowing that despite how eccentric the theatre teacher is, she does take technical issues seriously and practically treats her students like her own children when it comes to their safety. "I suppose I could keep her distracted for a bit, but you'll have to be quick about this, Luan" the older teen stated to the family clown.

Luan nodded in agreement to this but just as she opened her mouth to speak, a hand slammed down on their table and a familiar voice followed close after it. "What the shit, Loud?!" Darrell shouted, his face red with anger.

"Wow, I've heard of ' _Green with Envy_ ' but never ' _Red with Fury_ ', hahaha! Get It?" Luan stated, only earning a glare from the athlete.

"Shut the hell up, You buck-toothed bitch!" Darrell spat, making the comedienne flinch from the outburst.

"Don't you talk to my sister like that!" Luke shouted, shooting up from his seat to meet Darrell's glare.

"I told you to do one thing and you don't?! Have you forgotten who I am?!" The jock started before hardening his glare "Or do I need to remind you?" he finished, growling out the question. At this point, the idle chatter in the cafeteria had all but stopped but that wasn't stopping the two from their glaring contest.

"Maybe you need a reminder" Luke started venomously "But I would hate for the team to have their favorite toy broken" Luke finished, smugly.

To some, the statement went over their heads but to those who got what Luke meant, there were audible gasps, including one from Luan herself. Darrell just so happened to be amongst the group of people who understood and with blinding speed, he cracked Luke across the jaw.

The brunette teen's head snapped in one direction but otherwise didn't move from the hit. Before anything else could happen though, administrative staff came in and got between the two boys. Luke growled out to the jock, "I'll give you that one for free, _Maldita Puta_!" before being pulled from the cafeteria.

To say that Principal Jeffmanor was surprised to see Luke Loud in his office would be an understatement. The Loud boy was almost entirely a ghost in the school, at least amongst his other siblings especially his twin sister. "Mr. Loud, I'm going to ask this once, what did you do to anger Mr. McCann?" The middle-aged man asked evenly.

Luke was, understandably, shocked by the question "I didn't do anything to him. He came to my table, swore at my little sister and then hit me after I stood up to him" the boy replied as evenly, although Jeffmanor could tell he was agitated.

"Mr. Loud, you are aware that I have your record from middle school, right?" The principal asked, to which he saw the boy deflate at that.

"I'm aware."

"So then you know that I have more than enough reason to believe that you started this, correct?"

"...Yes" Luke answered dejectedly.

"Then please, for your sake, tell me what happened."

With a sigh, Luke told the principal about what happened on Saturday as well as what happened in the cafeteria moments ago. Once he had gotten to the end of the story, Jeffmanor leaned back in his office chair with a contemplative look on his face. "Very well, Mr. Loud, since this is your first offence at this school, I'll let you go with a warning but I _will_ be calling your parents to inform them" The stern man stated, looking at the teen before sighing tiredly.

"Head to class now, Mr. Loud while I speak with Mr. McCann."

"...yes, sir" Luke answered before getting up and making his way out of the office. On his way out however, Luke sent a dirty glare to the jock, who in turn flipped the bird at him. Sucking his teeth, the eldest Loud boy made his way to the theatre.

Upon getting there, Luke was surprised to see his little sister waiting outside the doors to the auditorium, leaning against the wall. "Luan, what're you doing out here?" the boy asked his sister, earning her attention.

"Oh! I was starting to get worried! I thought you would've gotten suspended but I wanted to be here if you didn't" Luan answered simply but Luke could tell something was bothering her.

"Something on your mind, Woodchuck?"

The comedienne chewed on her bottom lip for a moment or two before replying "Thanks for standing up for me...you didn't have to do that."

"Kinda have to, you being my little sister and all, comes with the title of 'Big Brother'" Luke stated simply, smirking at Luan before putting an arm over her shoulder and asked her "So did Operation Mrs. Hillson still happen without me?"

The question earned a playful shove from Luan as she replied "Nah, it'll have to happen at the end of the day before we go home." And with that, the two had their fun in theatre with them doing what they do best; Luan cracking her jokes and Luke making sure all the technical items backstage and in the control room were working properly.

Once the bell rang, Luke and Luan said their goodbyes as they went to their last classes for the day. The last class, Computer Programming, was something that, at first, Luke had been looking forward to before a certain creepy, too bright, smiling family moved to Royal Woods and their oldest daughter, who so happened to be Luke's age, decided to take up the same class.

"Hello, Luther! Glad to see that you're well!" Came the cheery voice of a certain Beatrix Yates.

"Hello, Ms. Yates" Luke responded to her, taking a small ounce of joy in seeing the happy girl bristle at his formality but she chose not to speak about it. The two teens quickly took their seats at their computers, which were unfortunately next to each other, and looked ahead as the teacher began to speak.

"Good afternoon class, today we're going to be discussing Repetition Code" began the voice of Mr. Reaper.

The class went as usual for Luke and once it was over, he bounded over to his only saving grace in the class, QT. "Belle, make Rob switch with meee~" The first born boy whined out as he leaned onto his taller friends shoulder.

"Luke, you know it's not that easy" she replied, starting to walk to her locker with her friend doing an impressive feat of walking along with her without removing himself from her shoulder.

"Dress more ugly then, he'll want to move after that" he continued to whine out, making the tall beauty roll her eyes at that before booping him on his nose.

"That's not happening either, sweetie."

"Ughhhhh" he groaned before finally moving off her shoulder and pulling out his phone. Once the screen lit up, Luke saw that he had a message from Carol which made him smile a bit dopely at his screen.

 _[ Hey babe, hv to hlp w/ HC, srry :( ]_

 _{ It's fine, Hun, I know how much_

 _you hate it }_

 _{ 'sides, was planning on being w/ Lans }_

 _{ Planned to teach her to make Stinkers }_

 _[ 'Kay, ilu, ttyl ]_

 _[ gve her a hug 4 me ]_

 _{ Will do, Love you too }_

Luke closed his phone before looking back at QT but was met with a giddy expression. Just as he began to open his mouth, the girl scooped him up into a bear hug, unintentionally crushing his head into her sizable chest.

"Oh My Gosh! Oh My Gosh! Oh My Gosh! You two said the words!" she squealed, shaking from side to side before realizing that she was suffocating her friend and quickly released him.

Luke took several deep breaths before he finally spoke "Yeah we have and could you give me a warning next time you wanna try to kill me."

"Sorry, sorry, I'm just so excited, I've been waiting to see you two get to that part of your relationship for months now!"

"Yeah, yeah" Luke replied before starting to make his way to the front of the school, getting into an idle conversation with his friend as they did so before finally going through the front doors and just as they began to part ways, QT said "I'll see you there in a few!"

Getting into Vanzilla, Luke pulled his phone out and started to look through his online library for something to read till he got home but his browsing was cut short when Luan got in and shut the door with more force than she usually does and Lori was about to open her mouth to lightly scold her before she and the rest of the high schoolers saw a look of hurt on the girl's face but before anyone could ask, Luan spoke.

"Can we leave?" she asked, a line that all of those present have all said before at one point in their teens before especially with the same look accompaining it. Without another word being spoken, they made their way to the middle and elementary schools, as well as the day care center. As every child piled into the old van, they were all given the same head shake that said not to bother Luan and each of them, save for Lola, did so without complaint, even the infant Lily understood somewhat.

Upon getting home, the Loud children piled out of the van before entering the house and starting to go about their usual business, save for Luan who made her way to her room. In a moment of complete understanding, Luna and Lori followed after her while Leni made sure to keep the little ones downstairs. "Hey Lana, ready to go?" Luke asked the small greasemonkey.

"Go where?" she asked, not taking her eyes off of the stairs.

"To my Lab, gonna teach you to make stink bombs, remember?" Luke stated calmly as he got down to her level. The statement seemed to get her attention as she snapped her eyes away before looking over at her brother and numbly nodded her head before going to the backyard to grab her helmet. Once she was out of earshot, Luke turned to Leni who looked as though she were ready to cry at any moment.

"Make sure to tell Ma where Lana and I went as well as what's going on with Luan. Okay, Leni?" Luke asked with a gentleness to his voice that made the older blonde nod her head but just as the boy turned to leave, he heard Lola's voice call out to him.

"I'm coming too!" The pageant princess declared, walking into the room behind her older twin with her own pink helmet on. Luke had to hold in his groan, forgetting how much Lola never seems to want to do anything that was remotely gross however, judging by Lana's slightly shameful expression, he could tell that Lola knows what's gonna be made in the one place she's never been allowed to go.

"Fine, but you touch anything without my permission and I'm sending your tushy back home via catapult" Luke said, glaring at the little girl who seemed to shrug off the threat. He was already thinking about how much of a bad idea this was. After telling Leni that he was taking both of the twins with him, the three made their way out of the house and towards Luke's Laboratory on his moped.

The ride over was pretty uneventful, given how it was about a ten minute ride, which surprised Luke given the fact that he had two kids with him. If he were being honest, he was expecting the typical 'Are we there yet?' shtick but fortunately he didn't and before he realized it, he was turning into the driveway of a house that Luke knew all too well at this point.

After parking his moped in the garage, the smaller Louds followed their brother as he walked over to the front door and knocked on it. A few moments pass before the door is opened by a girl with plum hair, her bangs covering her eyes and a pair of drumsticks clenched in her hand. The girl smiled upon seeing Luke "Hey, L-Meistro! Nice ta see ya, dude!" she said.

"Sup Nicky, how's it going?"

"Pretty good, was just about to rock out on those drums you made me for my birthday. Thanks again for 'em" the girl replied, raising her fist and Luke bumped it with his own.

"Is Gramps in yet?"

"Not yet, need your key?"

"Nope, just wanted to say hey to him and to introduce these two" Luke said as he now gestured to the two kids that were standing next to him. Nicky, after giving them a once over, crouched down to their height and smiled.

"Hey, little dudettes, you two must be Lola and Lana. Your sister, Luna's told me a lot about you" Nicky said simply before extending her hand out to the two. Each of them politely shaking her hand before she stood back up and smoothed out her skirt.

"If you need us, we'll be in my lab. And when QT gets here, tell her where to find me" Luke said to the teen, to which she nodded and said "Have fun and be safe!" before shutting the door.

"Who was she?" Lana asked, looking up at her brother as they started to walk around the back of the house.

"Oh, that's Nicky, one of Luna's friends. She's also the drummer in Sam's band" Luke explained as they continued to walk, his little sisters now remembering the girl from when she and the rest of the band came over during summer vacation. Before anyone could say anything else however, they stopped in front of what looked to be a small house in the very expansive backyard.

"Here we are" Luke announced, starting to search for his key. The six year-old twins were visibly taken aback by the size of the building. Soon their expressions changed however with Lana wearing a look of excitement and Lola wearing a mischievous grin. "Now remember what I said, Lola" Luke said, looking back at his little sister with a stern expression etched onto his face, causing the pageant winner to drop the grin and look at him with her best, pageant winning smile and answer.

"Yes, big brother, I promise not to touch anything without your say-so" the dress wearing blonde said sweetly, clasping her gloved hands in front of herself.

"Good, now come on, let me show you two around" Luke said, now having unlocked the door and ushering the girls inside first.

To say that the twins were awestruck would be an understatement, the two were absolutely blown away by the many things that were covering the walls of the building. Everything ranged from a wall covered in trophies, to a work area where computer with all of its pieces laying next to their case were spread out on a table and even what looked to be a small living room complete with a tv, mini fridge, and various gaming systems.

"When'd you get all this?" Lola found herself asking.

Luke chuckled at the question, remembering how he had first gotten the building. "Not too long after you two were born was when QT and I were given this place, " Luke replied before chuckling to himself "We haven't stopped using this place since."

"All of this is yours?!" Lana asked, looking up at her brother in admiration. The shine and sparkles in the little handywomans' big blue eyes made the teen a bit embarrassed.

"Well...not all of it, The Old Man owns some of it and then gave it to us when I had...well...let's not get into that" Luke stated, rubbing the back of his head but before the twins could ask who 'The Old Man' was, they got their answer.

"I gave it to them after he rigged one of my arcade machines so he didn't have to pay" came an old, gravely voice. The twins turned to see who had spoken and were greeted by the sight of an elderly man who looked to be as old as their Pop-Pop and just as energetic.

"Who are you?" Lana asked.

"The name's Gus, but you can call me Gramps" The man, Gus, answered.

The two blondes just looked at him with confusion before Luke stepped forward. The teen opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the voice of his friend, who just so happened to have gotten there in that moment.

"He's the founder of Gus' Games and Grub" QT answered in Luke's place. Gus seemed to take pride in that as he started to tilt his chin up and held a cocky smile on his face.

"Also the guy who made me fix a bunch of old arcade cabinets for my entire summer vacation" Luke added, making the old man deflate and send a dirty look to him.

"I told you that you didn't have to but you seemed too eager to do it, as long as I didn't call that fox of a mom you have on you" Gus responded, making the oldest Loud child dry heave at the comment while the younger two seemed confused again but now at their brothers behavior at the comment about their mom.

"I don't get it" Lola said, looking between her dry heaving brother and the smug old man.

"Yeah, our mom's not a fox" Lana added, looking with her twin.

"Don't worry about it, you two" QT said as she made her way into the room. Once inside, the Louds then noticed the girl holding a cardboard box in her arms with what looked to be wires and computer parts jutting out of its open top. The taller brunette made her way over to Luke and rolled her eyes before shoving the box into his chest. The heaving teen let out a wheeze before glaring at his friend.

"Oh stop being a Drama Queen, your mom's hot, get over it" QT stated, much too used to Luke's antics when it came to Gus' teasing. Luke glared at his friend for a bit longer before grumbling something and turning to set the box down. After a moment or two, something finally dawned on Luke and he quickly spun around.

"Oh yeah, Gramps, this is Lola and Lana. They're the younger twins in the family" Luke stated, gesturing to the two girls in question, both of which waved politely.

"Well you weren't kidding when you said 'identical'" Gus started, looking between the two blondes, "Would either of you care for some Arthur Heelers?" he asked them.

"What's that?" Lana asked simply, raising an eyebrow at the name.

"Lemonade-Iced Tea. Named after a famous golfer" Luke answered before quickly adding "Lori drinks them all the time."

"Ooooh" the twins said in unison "Yes, please!"

Gus chuckled at this then turned to leave "Coming right up," he called over his shoulder before finally leaving all together.

"Lana, you ready to get started?" Luke asked, catching said girls attention.

"Oh right!" She called before walking over to her brother. Luke picked her up in one swift motion and held her in his arms, much to the girls shock. The two began to make their way deeper into the building, leaving Lola and QT behind.

"What about me?!" Lola screamed after them before she got picked up herself, much to her chagrin. The small blonde sent a glare at the brunette that had picked her up. "Put me down, you philistine!" She screamed, squirming in QT's arms.

"H-hey, whoa!" The teen said, struggling to keep the oddly strong child still. Lola continued to struggle before she heard QT say something that got her attention.

"Lola, calm down, you can help me with my Homecoming dress!" QT declared. The pageant winner's glare turned into a wide eyed look of glee, a look that made the teen immediately regret her statement.

"Well what're we standing around for?! Let's go!" The six year-old shouted, making the older girl sigh in defeat before she began to move to take the girl out to her car.

Meanwhile across town at the Loud Residence, the pair of Rita and Lynn Sr Loud were having to deal with two problems in their house. Earlier that day, they both received a phone call from the school telling them of what happened in the cafeteria and while they're glad that Luke wasn't in trouble, they were still worried due to the fact of it being Darrell McCann, the kid that almost lead their son down a bad path not too many years ago, was the person that he had almost gotten into a fight with.

Once they had gotten home however, they were also met with the news that their little comedienne was apparently upstairs crying her eyes out about something that neither Luna nor Lori wanted to tell them about. Being put in such a predicament meant only one thing for the two parents, they needed to tackle the two issues individually.

"Rita, are you sure we shouldn't switch? I mean, what if it's something I can't help with? What if it's something she'd only want to talk to you about?" Lynn Sr asked his wife, nervous about the idea of going to console his daughter by himself.

"Honey, between us, you're the one she's closer to, I'm sure it'll be a lot easier for you to help her than it would be me. Besides, you're the only other person in the house that's great at cheering people up" Rita stated, patting her husband on his cheek before leaning up slightly to give him a peck on the lips.

The Loud patriarch looked at his wife with new found confidence before turning to head upstairs and speak to Luan. Once the sound of a door closing was heard, the small smile on Rita's face dropped as she released a disgruntled sigh. When it came to her kids, she was as protective as they came but that didn't mean anything when one of her kids seemed to be nothing but a magnet for trouble. While Rita would never call Luke a troublemaker or anything close to it, there were still times that she got frustrated at him because of his antics.

"C'mon Rita, you got this," the mother of twelve mumbled to herself before taking out her phone and dialing her eldest sons' number. The phone rang three times before it clicked.

" _Hey, Ma_ " came the voice of Luke

"Hey Luke, Leni already told me that you took the twins with you to your lab, I hope you're keeping them safe."

" _Yeah, they're safe, Lola's with QT and Lana's righ-NOT THAT ONE LANA!_ "

The mother was taken aback by the sudden scream, having to move her phone from her ear before she she heard Luke go back to a calm tone.

" _Sorry about that, but yeah they're safe. I'm teaching Lana some science stuff,_ " At that statement however, there was the distinct sound of a small explosion followed by the sound of Luke starting to gag and cough.

"Luther, sweetie, is everything okay over there?"

" _Yeah Ma, peachy but I'll have to call you ba-_ "

"Actually, Luke," Rita started, having interrupted her son but she knew that she had his attention. A couple of second pass before she continued, "I got a call from the school today."

" _Ugh, I was hoping that wasn't why you call..._ "

"Luke...is everything okay at school?" Rita asked, making her way onto the porch to talk more privately. There was a noticeable hesitance on the other end before Luke spoke but with a more downtrodden tone in his voice.

" _Everything's fine...just..._ " he paused to sigh before continuing " _Darrell called Luan a bitch and I couldn't help but want to hit him_ " he finished evenly.

Rita wasn't at all shocked at how easy Luke had swore, she was more than aware that just about all of her kids inherited her dad's sailor mouth, something she usually had when she was by herself.

"But you didn't, right?" she asked, nervously.

" _Of course not, I'm not that dumb, Ma, but I just couldn't let that slide._ "

"Good, that's good to hear, I wouldn't want anything to happen to you, again."

" _...Thanks, mommy..._ " Luke said, embarrassment evident in his voice.

Rita felt her heart swell at that word. It was something she had missed when it came to her older kids, they all grew out of calling her 'Mommy' and it always makes her happy when she hears them say it to her.

"You're welcome, Lu-" Rita was cut off however, as the clattering of glass was heard in the background on the other line as well as the sound of Luke sighing in frustration.

" _I'll talk to you later, Ma_ " The teen said before hanging up.

Rita smiled, despite having been hung up on, she felt glad knowing that her son was still open to her about these things. The matriarch chose that moment to relax a bit before she were to head inside but before she could even let out a relaxed breath.

"What's going on with Luke?" came the question of the resident poet, Lucy. The sudden appearance of the eight year-old caused the matriarch to practically jump out of her skin.

"Lucy, please stop doing that" Rita stated, clutching her chest as she looked down at her raven haired daughter.

"Sorry" the gothic girl replied monotonously, "I just overheard you talking to Luke and wanted to know if he was okay."

After getting her bearings, Rita replied to her daughter "Lucy, you know it's rude to eavesdrop on people's conversations."

"Sorry, again. _Sigh_ , I was just wanting to make sure nothing bad happened" The little goth said, looking at her mom.

"Nothing bad happened Lucy, Luke just had a bit of a rough day."

"That's understandable, I have a rough day, everyday."

"Riiiight, well anyway, let's head inside. I wouldn't want any of you getting sick."

Back across town, the aforementioned Loud boy was currently sitting outside the building with a shameful looking Lana standing next to him. The door to the building was open and currently being aired out due to the unintentional explosion that the handywoman caused.

"Luke...I'm really sorry, I didn't know Hops was gonna jump onto that shelf. I'll replace it, I'll give you all my allowance money."

The older boy merely sighed, as angry as he wants to be, he knows he shouldn't flip out on his little sister. Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, Luke spoke gently.

"It's fine Lana, these things happen. At least you didn't do what I did when I tried to learn how to make smoke bombs" he said simply.

"What'd you do?"

"Let's just say; I found out the hard way that eyebrows take quite a bit to grow back."

The little girl giggled at that, remembering the day he had come home missing his eyebrows and having to draw some on for himself, using Lori's makeup. While she was giggling, her frog, Hops popped his head out from her overalls pocket and looked at Luke, who in turn sent a scornful look at the amphibian.

"And you," Luke started, pointing at Hops "You hit me in the eye with your tongue again, and I'll make sure you never eat another chocolate covered cricket again."

The frog seemed to have understood him clear as day and merely nodded. Luke, all the while, decided to pop his head into the building. Once it seemed aired enough, he waved Lana and Hops back inside.

"Well, I'll need to buy more tubes and flasks so until we have to leave, go entertain yourself" Luke stated flatly, rubbing his face tiredly. Lana, while still saddened that she upset her brother, took up his offer and began to explore the unfamiliar surroundings.

Looking around, the first grader could tell that a lot had happened in there. She took note of all the trophies and photos of a middle-school aged Luke and QT sporting large smiles as well as the fact that some of the photos seemed to be family pictures, but one picture had gotten her attention completely.

Stepping up to it, Lana saw a picture of her older siblings from Lori to Lincoln and they were all seemingly surrounding a younger looking Rita as she held a small, raven haired, new born. The handywoman couldn't help but take the picture from the table that it rested on and inspected it further, upon doing so though she made two discoveries.

First one being that Luke was the previous owner of the hat that she currently had on top of her head, which brought a small smile to her face. The other discovery however, made her gasp audibly as she looked closer. The baby in the picture is Lucy and without her bangs to cover them, Lana could see her eyes clear as day and they were an odd pair. One of her eyes seemed to be a shade of blue similar to her own but her other eye seemed to a jade green.

"Heterochromia" Lana heard from behind her, making her jump in the air before turning around. She saw that Luke had apparently snuck up on her and he was holding two glasses of what looked to be iced tea.

"Heter-what?" Lana asked, taking the glass that her brother started to offer her.

"Heterochromia" Luke repeated before taking a sip from his glass, "Pretty much means that she has two different eye colors" he stated simply as he now took the picture from her and put it back.

"That's so cool! Why does she hide them? I'd be showing those puppies off!" Lana exclaimed.

"I don't know, Ma and Pa let her bangs grow out and she seems to like it that way."

"Pft, that's dumb" Lana stated before sipping her drink again and adding under her breath "I wanna see them."

Luke started to laugh at that before saying "Good luck, she doesn't even show Lynn and that's her roommate." Lana deflated a bit at that before she remembered something that she had seen earlier.

"What's under that cloth?" She asked, starting to make her way over to where she had seen the cloth when she first walked in.

"Don't look!" Luke exclaimed, quickly dashing in front of his little sister, "It's a project I'm working on and I can't show anyone yet."

Lana didn't believe her brother about that but she saw the look of worry on his face and knew she shouldn't look...for now.

The rest of their time there wasn't eventful after that, Lana continued to look around and even asked questions about the various things she saw. Everything was fine until it was near time to leave, that's when something odd happened. Lana saw Luke have a look of despair and regret on his face when she asked what was in the trunk, that seemed to be almost hidden on a back wall, but what surprised her was the response she had gotten.

"A monster... _don't_ open it or ask about it. Okay?" He said and she could tell that it was something he didn't want to talk about so she agreed and they were on their way out the door.

"See ya at school, dude!" Nicky said with Luke sending her a two finger salute while he raised an eyebrow at QT, who seemed unable to look up from her apparently interesting boots and held a heavy blush on her cheeks.

"Lola, what'd you do?" Luke asked without looking away from his friend.

"Gave _Queen Bee_ over there some tips about her dress but she-mmph!" The pageant princess started to say before her mouth was covered by said brunette's hand.

"I'll uh...I'll tell you later, Luke" QT said, sending Lola a pleading look to which the little girl conceded with a roll of her eyes. The aforementioned boy seemed more confused but soon let it go, knowing that his friend will tell him.

After getting themselves situated again, the Louds made their way home. The three made it just in time for dinner, but it seemed to be a meal that lacked a certain jokester at the table as well as the distinct lack of energy from everyone else, save for Luke and the younger twins.

"Hey Luce, Luke told me you have two eye colors! Can I see?!" came the excited voice of an excited Lana and from what he could tell, Luke felt the distinct feeling of a heated gaze being sent his way.

Once dinner was over however, Luke made his way upstairs, taking care to avoid Lucy as best as he could, before making it over to Luna and Luan's shared room. Knocking a couple of times, Luke let himself in after confirming that Luan didn't seem to be busy.

Taking in the curled up form of his little sister, Luke could see that her hair wasn't in its usual ponytail. Crossing over to the bed, he sat down gently and remained there without saying a word. This was a move he always made when it came to an upset sister, as long as they know he's there for them both physically and emotionally, then they'll open up.

A few minutes pass in comfortable silence before Luan spoke in a hoarse voice, "Operation Mrs. Hillson was a bust..."

That was all Luke needed to know as he pieced it together, her current state as well as her earlier behavior after school let out for the day told him everything. The teen gently lied down next to his little sister and almost immediately, she grabbed onto her brother and buried her face into his chest before she began to sob again with him now gently stroking her hair.

"It's alright, let it all out." Luke cooed as he continued to stroke her hair before continuing, "Tell me all about it, okay Woodchuck?"

At that statement, the young comedienne shook her head and Luke understood that it was still too soon for her to tell him. It wasn't long before she had finally fell asleep and in that moment, he knew not to leave her side for the night. After some slight jostling, Luke got the covers up and pulled them on top of the two of them before he finally went to sleep himself.

 _ **Poor Luan, it hurt a bit having to write her parts a bit, but I hope you all liked this new installment because wow was it hard not just dumping everything out. I also hope that you all enjoyed the little info about Lucy that I dropped because it was quite a hard thing to decide on doing at first. Now that we've also gotten more info on Luke and we now know that Homecoming is coming up and that should prove to be quite the experience for everyone. I can't wait to see what you all think about it, but Until Next Time, Stay Tuned, Readers!**_


	6. Comforting Confrontation: Part 1

Not So Loud...

 _ **Hey all, this installment is gonna start with a bit of terror and gore, nothing too over the top, just as a warning to all of you, I was really on the fence of including it or not so I hope you enjoy it...**_

 _Comforting Confrontation: Part 1_

" _Shit! Shit! Shit!_ " a younger Luke said as he continued to run, his legs carrying his as fast as they could, the boy doing his best to weave between the trees in the ever expanding forest. Tears streaming hotly from his eyes as he knew what were to happen if he slowed down.

" _Gotta get away! Just gotta get away!_ " he said under his breath as he continued to run before a familiar, predatory growl sounded behind him, only making the boy quicken his pace as it didn't sound too far away.

The growl soon turned into a roar, one powerful enough to cause Luke to glance over his shoulder to see if he could spot the beast but that was a mistake he would pay for. The moment he looked away from where he was going, he lost his footing and fell to the leaf covered ground and just as he started to pick himself up to try and run again, he saw it.

The large, silhouetted figure of a beast he knew all too well as it came rocketing towards him with its claws and teeth primed and ready. Luke felt the familiar, excruciating pain of the teeth and claws, carving into his skin but with enough strength mustered up through the agony, Luke managed to deliver a powerful kick to the beast, throwing it off of him. He however, wasn't fast enough at getting up and that would cost him as he found out when the teeth tore into the warm flesh of his left leg.

Luke shot up from the bed, sweat trickling down his forehead as he looked around at his surroundings with fear ridden eyes. He was in Luan and Luna's room, not in that forest, good. He looked over at the owner of the bed, Luan, and saw that she was still asleep but had eased up her grip on him enough for the older boy to slip out and just as he stood to try and leave, he felt pain shoot up his leg, making him take a moment to look down.

"Damn phantom pains..." he muttered under his breath as he rubbed the part of his leg that was still skin before stumbling out of the room and down the stairs, with a bit of difficulty. Making his way into the kitchen, Luke made his way over to the coffee maker and began to brew himself some of the tantalizing ichor.

Once the liquid had been brewed, Luke grabbed his stone grey mug before pouring himself some, not bothering to add anything, and made his way over to the dining room. On the way out, he saw the oven's clock had read 5:49 which meant his mother was gonna be up soon.

Luke sat at the table and sipped at his coffee without bothering to look up, knowing there was no point in trying to go back to bed. Soon, almost like clockwork, he heard the familiar sound of his parents bedroom opening which was soon followed by the creaking of the stairs and floorboards before finally the sound of a shower being run. Some time passed and the Loud Matriarch entered the dining room, exhaustion clear on her face before the woman noticed her oldest son sitting at the table with his mug.

"Luther? You're up early, is something wrong?" Rita asked as she took in her sons appearance and while he usually looked like he was tired or annoyed, she could tell something was wrong. She saw it in his eyes, a trait that all of her kids shared with Lynn Sr., they all had very expressive eyes that let someone know what they were truly feeling.

"Just couldn't sleep, so I figured I might as well make some coffee" Luke stated, looking flatly at his mother but he could tell that Rita was reading him like a book. He knew she wasn't gonna take that answer the moment he saw her eyes widen. The mother of twelve quickly made her way over to him, looking her son over slightly.

"Did you have a nightmare? Are you okay? Did you get any pains? Do I need to call Dr. Erkson?" she asked, taking Luke's head into her hands and doing a quick scan of his face and skin tone, noticing he still held a bit of fear in his eyes.

"I'm fine, Ma...just forgot to take my meds is all."

"You forgot to? Luther..." Rita began before trailing off, clearing sorting between either scolding him or worrying about him. "How'd you forget?" she asked.

"I was busy comforting Luan...she needed me."

"Oh...is she okay? What was wrong with her?"

"She's fine...physically speaking...her heart however..."

"Her heart?" Rita asked before it dawned on her and her expression shifted from confusion to downtrodden "Oh..."

"Yeah...you think it's okay if she and I stay home from school today?" Luke asked, drawing Rita's expression back to confusion at the sudden question but before she could ask, Luke explained, "She's not gonna be good to go to school, not today at least and I think it'd be good if she had time to replenish, y'know?"

"I don't know Luke...school is still important and I don't think the others would be too happy with that idea." Rita stated, unsure of the idea.

"We can make up the assignments and besides, you let me and Lori do it after Nicky and I broke up and the others didn't mind it then" Luke countered, easily bringing up a similar situation just over a year ago.

Rita sighed at that, "I'll talk to your father about this first before I decide."

"Talk to me about what?" came the question from one Lynn Sr who in that moment, entered the dining room on his way to start breakfast.

"If Luke and Luan should stay at home for the day" Rita stated, making her way to her husband as the two began to discuss while entering the kitchen, leaving the aforementioned boy in the dining room to finish his coffee which had now grown cold. Getting up, Luke made his way to the kitchen, easily entering as his parents continued their discussion while not paying attention to him.

"Well what makes this any different from when we let Luke stay at home, honey?" Lynn asked, clearly confused as to why his wife was against the idea when they've done such a thing before.

"I just don't want the others to have a problem with this, you know how argumentative they can all get when they think we play favorites. I don't want Luan to feel worse than she already does."

"This is a broken heart, Rita, that's something that I'm sure none of them would feel upset about their sister needing time to recover from."

"I know, I know, it's just..." the mother paused to sigh heavily before continuing "I just want this to be as fair as possible for everyone."

At that moment Luke cut in while sipping the new cup of coffee he poured himself, "Y'know, everyone understands that Luan's upset" he paused so his parents could shift their attention to him before he continued "I think the only arguments would be who gets to stay with her today."

That got their attention as the couple now stared at each other before looking at their son. After a few moments of silence, the patriarch spoke up. "If that's true, then I'm sure it's fine for her to stay home for a day" he stated simply, turning to his wife who still was contemplating something.

"I can stay with her, she'd have some company and transportation." Luke stated, finally deciding to just down the coffee in one go. Rita kept thinking for a bit longer on this, before finally sighing and nodding in agreement.

"Alright, I suppose she can stay for the day but only to help her recover" she started to say before looking at Luke with a kind smile "That means I want to be able to see my baby's beautiful smile when I get home today." The two Loud males nodded at this before Lynn went back to cooking with Rita helping him.

"I'll wake the others" Luke stated, putting his mug in the sink before heading out of the kitchen and up the stairs, not noticing the small looks of concern his parents had on their faces as he left.

After the usual waking up routines of his siblings, save for Luan who Luke made sure to keep asleep. Everyone was sitting around the table, eating their breakfasts and having subdued conversations due to the looming despair amongst the family.

"Hey Pop-star?" Luna began, getting her dad's attention, "Why'd you have Luke let Lu' sleep in?" That question seemed to have caught everyone's attention as everyone turned to look at the patriarch.

"Because she and Luke are staying home today" he stated simply but rather than being bombarded by questions like he expected, instead only Lola began to open her mouth to voice a complaint but it she quickly clammed up when she saw the dark glare from Lori.

The rest of breakfast went by smoothly before finally everyone got up to finish getting ready for school, Luke himself not bothering to get up from the table since he was staying behind. Just as he heard everyone going out the door, he felt a pair of arms wrap around his shoulders as someone peeked him on the cheek.

"Making sure you take it easy today too, okay Luther?" stated Rita as she released her sons shoulders.

"Will do, have a nice day Ma" the eldest boy replied. The door shut a few moments later and he heard Vanzilla leave the driveway. After a few moments, the boy got up from the table and went upstairs to grab a quick shower and change into fresh clothes due to having slept in his clothes from yesterday. After going about his morning routine, he decided to do something he hasn't done in a while and began inspecting all the electronics in the house.

Three hours later, Luke had dissected the family computer and was in the process of cleaning it as well as make a mental checklist of what parts needed to be upgraded, the boy heard the sound of hurried footsteps as he turned to see a very panicked Luan descending the stairs.

"We're late! Oh my gosh, we're late!" she screamed as she practically flew down the stairs and towards the front door.

"Wait, Woodchuck!" Luke called to her, making the younger brunette stop in her tracks and turn, having a look of anxiety on her face, "We're not going to school today."

"What? Why?"

"I told Ma and Pa that you needed a day to recover after what happened so you're not going today" Luke stated, having gone back to his task.

"Oh..." Luan muttered before closing the front door and making her way over to the couch, plopping down next to her brother to watch him work.

The two sat there in a comfortable silence as Luke finally put the device back together and plugged it back in. "So what do you want to do now?" Luke asked, having made his way back over to the couch but before he got a response, Luan's stomach rumbled. The comedienne blushed at the sound and looked up sheepishly at her brother.

"Uh...maybe some breakfast?" she asked, making her brother chuckle at that before he started making his way to the kitchen.

"Alright, C'mon, I'll fix you something."

Meanwhile at Royal Woods High, Luna was currently in the library with the rest of her Literature class. The rocker, while typically prefers to read music and Rocker Bios, didn't mind having to pick up a fiction book every now and then. One problem with that however, the book that the class was having to pick out and read was a book that she'd seen Lori read before and once the eldest sibling got to the end, she couldn't stop crying for the rest of the day.

"Of Mice and Men? This sounds like it'll be interesting" came the voice of Luna's girlfriend, Sam Sharp.

"I don't know, brah, I saw Lori read this and I don't think it ends well" Luna replied with a nervous tone. Sam couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that, especially with the tone Luna had with it. "Something wrong, Moonpie?" The blonde asked, suddenly worried about her girlfriend.

"It's just...I'm not a fan of sob stories, y'know? And I have a feeling I'm not gonna like this one" The brunette rocker stated, quickly having her copy of the book checked out by the librarian.

"Well if you're worried about it being sad, then how about we read it together? It won't be as sad if we're next to each other" Sam said before realizing what she had said and quickly added while blushing "O-or you could have Lori just tell you about it. That works too."

Luna couldn't help but giggle at that before the rest of the class began to file out of the library and head back to the classroom, idly talking amongst themselves. Halfway into the journey however, Luna spotted a certain brown haired freshman and couldn't help but send a scornful look his way which he soon bowed his head a scurried away from her. Sam took notice of this and spoke up about it, having never really seen Luna look at someone like that before.

"What was that about? You looked like you were ready to rip his head off."

"Sorry about that, just a bit pissed at him. He did something to one of my sisters yesterday" Luna stated, running a hand through her short hair.

"Oh yeah, you were telling something happened but didn't say anything else about it."

Luna let out a heavy sigh before starting to tell her about yesterday's event.

Elsewhere in the school, Lori was trying to make sense of the Pre-Calculus worksheet that she had gotten. The fact that she also had taken it upon herself to borrow Luke's notebook wasn't helping her due to the fact that most of the notes were just other equations that he had done in class. She was tempted to send a text to him so that he could decipher it for her but the blonde knew it would be admitting defeat.

"Need help?" asked a masculine voice. Looking up, Lori locked eyes with her orange haired friend, Chaz.

"Ugh, yes. This is like _literally_ impossible, I don't see how you can do this so easily."

The orange haired teen chuckled at his friends' misfortune, "It's easy, here, let me show you" he said as he erased some of Lori's work, "First you have to separate the variables so that it's' easier to solve." At that, he began to help the blonde, who in turn quickly understood the problems and finished the worksheet with time to spare.

"Thanks Chaz, you're a lifesaver."

"It's no problem, I'm just surprised Luke's not hear to help you."

"He stayed at home today, one of the little one's wasn't feeling too good" Lori stated simply, avoiding having to tell the boy the story. Chaz merely nodded at that before deciding to switch gears and asked Lori something.

"Hey Lori, is Leni going to Homecoming this Saturday?" the boy asked, rubbing the back of his head nervously. Lori had to suppress the urge to squeal at the question and instead kept her calm demeanor.

"Actually, she said she didn't feel like going since she didn't have a date. Why?" Lori asked, all the while she was using every fiber of her being to not jump for joy at the possible idea.

"Well I was thinking about asking her if she wanted to go with me. You think she's be interested? I mean...I'm no Blake Bradley, but...I don't know" Chaz stated, his once confident smile turning into a downtrodden one as he spoke down about himself.

"Pft Chaz, please, Leni's not shallow. I'm sure she'd love to go with you" Lori stated, giving her friend a warm smile.

"You think so?"

"I know so."

Back at the Loud residence, Luan was helping Luke wash the dishes that he had just used while they both idly talked about their plans for the day. "I have to head to my lab to grab those computer parts and after that, we can go to the mall and shop for a bit" Luke said, finishing off the last of the dishes before handing them to Luan who went to dry them.

"I don't think I've ever actually been to your lab before. What do you do in there?" Luan asked, moving to put the dishes away after drying them.

"Usually hang out or build stuff with QT. Matter of fact," Luke paused before going over to Luan just as she stacked the plate into the cabinet and grabbed her hand. Taking her hand and comparing it to his, he continued "You mind helping me with something? Your hands are small enough."

"With what? Wait, what do my hands have to do with it?"

"I need someone to be able to connect a couple of wires together and align the engine abit but my hands are too big to do it. You don't mind, do you?" Luke explained, now raising even more questions than before with the comedienne. Before she could voice that though, Luke answered "I'm building Lana a car like Lola's Princess car for their birthday."

That caught Luan off guard entirely, never had she ever seen Luke do anything remotely mechanical outside of computers before. Her expression easily caught the older teens attention as he began to chuckle before speaking again. "What? This isn't my first time. How do you think Lola got _her_ car?"

"I thought you bought it online." Luan answered, now thoroughly confused at this revelation. Luke however, rolled his eyes at her and moved to leave the kitchen with her towing behind. "How'd you build it? How'd you even get parts for it? Luke?" The comedienne asked, her brother deciding to not answer anymore.

This continued for a bit with Luke seemingly ignoring her while getting ready to leave. Once the teen got his shoes on and hair tied, he finally spoke with a smirk on his face. "If you want to know, you better get ready." Luan took that as her que and rushed up the stairs, now entirely curious about her brother.

After half an hour of waiting, the girl came back downstairs, fresh from her shower with a new outfit on to even signify it. "Alright, I'm ready. Sorry it took so long." Luan said, running her fingers through her thick, curly hair.

"Nah, it's okay. Nice outfit by the way. When'd you get it?" Luke asked, taking in the comediennes' t-shirt, flannel, and jeans combo.

"Last week...Leni thought it was a good idea to change up everyone's wardrobes a little. I'm surprised she hasn't given you a wardrobe change yet." Luan replied, putting on a pair of sneakers not too dissimilar from Lincoln's.

"No point in fixing what's not broken." Luke said with a shrug before adding "Let's hurry though, I wanna be done with that thing as fast as possible." A moment later, the two were out the door and up the street. Not much was said during the trip aside from the two siblings making plans for the rest of the day, or moreover Luan making the plans and Luke just choosing to be her chauffeur. Once they got there and parked, Luke quickly ushered her inside and over to the large cloth that covered the vehicle.

With an unneeded flourish on Luke's' part, the cloth was removed to reveal a small car that was very reminiscent of the Princess car at the Loud residence. The paint was rusted and chipped in various places, but it still looked usable. One thing about the car immediately caught Luan's eye however, the car had a stick shift instead of the automatic that Lola's had.

"Why the change in transmission?" the younger brunette asked, taking in all that had been done to the little car.

"Oh, that? I thought Lana would like it since she loves car races so much. Also would help keep Lola from 'borrowing' it, so there's that." He replied before pulling a small lever that popped the hood of the car. Peering inside, Luan saw the problem almost immediately as Luke explained "As you can see, the wires to the battery aren't connected and I can't really reach them as I said." Luan rolled her eyes before she moved to reach in but was promptly stopped by Luke who extended a pair of leather gloves to her. Taking and donning the accessories, the young jokester reached in and connected the wires to the battery before looking up at her brother.

"What next?" She asked simply. Luke, without a word, adjusted her hands and moved them over to the engine block and puppetered her hands to move the lining of the gears and pistons before letting go of her hands and stepping back.

"Alright, just gotta see if it'll start and this thing will finally be done." Luke said, moving towards the ignition, Luan retracted her hands and allowed her brother to start it up. With a slight stutter, the little vehicle's engine purred to life before Luke quickly shut it back off. "Well that worked, now what do we do?" Luke asked, sending Luan a small smile.

"It's still a little early to get lunch, maybe we can just relax here. You did say that you and QT hung out here a lot." Luan answered, starting to walk around after taking the gloves off and set them down before casually glancing around for ideas. "Woah, where'd you get all these trophies?!" The prankster exclaimed as she ogled the wall of accomplishments.

"Oh those all aren't mine, some are QT's. She won a few fencing tournaments and drawing contests. The one's related to engineering and games are mine" Luke replied as he covered the car again. That shocked Luan as she heard that, even further confused at one of the revelations. Last she remembered Luke doing anything outside of gaming as a hobby was when Lincoln was the youngest in the family.

"I thought Mom and Dad banned you from doing anything related to engineering" Luan stated, raising an eyebrow at her brother, who in turn had a small smile on his face as he made his way over to the mini fridge.

"According to Royal Woods and the state of Michigan, _Luther Loud_ is banned from any and all engineering related events, didn't say anything about Isabelle Thomas' brother Jonathan" Luke said, smugly as he pulled a can of root beer out and continued "But enough about me. How are you feeling?"

Luan was taken aback by the question, due to how sudden it had come. She didn't need long to figure out what he meant though as she saw the look on his face, Luke was waiting patiently for her answer. The prankster heaved a sigh and tugged some of her hair behind her ear before speaking "Honestly? Like shit..."

That answer caused the older teen to do a spit take in surprise. Never in his life had Luke ever expected Luan of all people to drop a swear. Amongst all of them, Luan and Lucy seemed to always be the only two in the family that never swore, no matter how angry they had gotten at something. One could only imagine the complete shock that the poor boy was now enduring.

"W-wha-? What did you just say?" Luke asked, coughing and trying to recover from his unintentional action. Luan seemed annoyed at his question, it wasn't like she was a child and it's not like the other teens in the family didn't swear all the time.

"Oh big whoop, I said a swear." Luan stated, crossing her arms over her chest, shooting her brother an annoyed gaze before looking away and muttering "...it's not like you haven't said worse."

Luke, after having recovered, quickly responded "I was just surprised is all, never really heard or seen you do anything vulgar before." Grabbing a some paper towels, Luke started to clean up the soda he had spit out as he spoke "Please elaborate though, why do you feel like that?"

"Cause...I really liked him, Luke and now I just feel so stupid for trying to make a move. I mean, like seriously, why'd I think one of the cutest boys in my class wanna go out with a psycho like me?" Luan said, walking over and sitting on the couch they had. Luke seemed confused at that, after disposing of the soiled paper towels, made his way over and sat beside her.

"You're not a psycho, Woodchuck" Luke said gently, only to get an unexpected reaction from the heartbroken teen. Luan glared at him and raised her hand, three of her fingers spread wide as far as they could go.

"April Fools for the past four years," she put down a finger "Having cameras all around our house," another finger went down "And making poor taste jokes to you after you lost your leg." At that last one, Luke saw Luan as she began to tear up at that and he couldn't help but roll his eyes and put up his own three fingers.

"We, in all honesty, don't mind the cameras since you took them out of our rooms," finger down "I actually found the jokes funny because you were the only person who didn't tiptoe around the issue," second finger "And to be honest, at this point, April Fools is annoying and we all dread that time of year, every year, but you at least only limit it to us and we're all pretty durable people." Luke's final finger went down at that before he continued, "So with those reasons explained, we can see that you're clearly not a psycho."

"You didn't see the way he looked at me when I asked though." Luan said, not wanting to look at her brother, trying to subtly wipe some stray tears away.

"How do you mean?" Luke asked, a small sense of dread starting to creep up his back at that statement.

"He looked a me like...l-like..." Luan started but soon the tears started to flow and Luke pulled her into an embrace as she sobbed. Some time passed with the sounds of Luan's heartbroken sobs being the only sound in the building. After they had died down however, Luan had gotten herself together and began wiping her eyes, kindly accepting some fresh paper towels from her brother.

"How'd he look at you, Luan?" Luke gently asked, the dread not having left him in the slightest.

"Like..." Luan paused to sniffle a bit before blowing her nose and continuing "Like I was a monster, like I was gonna attack him or something." Luke felt his stomach drop at that, something he didn't want to hear. Luckily Luan didn't notice his brief look of panic as he quickly masked it and made an attempt to try and cheer her up.

"Well maybe he was just freaked out that a cute clown girl asked him on a date." He saw Luan blush a bit at the compliment,"You're just saying that" Luan mumbled out but Luke merely shook his head before continuing.

"I mean it Luan,I mean take me and Lori as examples, I kinda freaked when Carol asked me on our first date and we both know how Lori reacted when Bobby asked her." Luke finished with a light chuckle, causing Luan to let out a small giggle of her own.

"Yeah, their first date was even worse though." Luan added, piquing Luke's interest. "How'd _that_ go?" he asked and, with a smile, Luan easily began to recall how it went.

After a half hour of the comedienne telling the story, it finally came to a close and Luke was clutching his sides in laughter with Luan joining him. There was a few more minutes of the two brunettes laughing their heads off before finally they had gotten themselves together. "Say, Luan?" Luke began, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Y-yeah?"

"Wanna see something cool that I'm working on?"

"S-Sure! Lead the way!" Luan replied before she joined Luke as he rose from his seat and started walk a few steps towards a tool chest and she noticed that each drawer was labeled with each Loud, starting from Lynn Sr. and all the way down to Lily, obviously Luke didn't have a drawer, and she saw Luke open her draw before pulling out a box. "What is it?" Luan asked, now really interested in the object.

"This is some of the many projects I have that I was planning on giving you for Christmas." Luke stated, pulling open the box and taking some small items out. Luan noticed it was a usb and a small grey box. Before Luan could even verbalize her confusion, Luke answered her question in order of how he pulled them out. "The usb is called a PC Prank Master and the box is a cell phone jammer."

Luan could feel a small smile tugging at her lips as she looked between the items and her brother, Luke giving his own mischievous smirk back. "I never took you as a pranking kind of guy. Always thought you were against shenanigans."

Luke let out a small chuckle before he spoke, "I'm not against them, I just prefer not to be on the receiving end of them. If anything, I actually used to pull pranks against people as a kid, but let's not get into that." That caused Luan to raise an eyebrow at her sibling, having never seen such a thing for herself. Knowing better than to ask and potentially ruin the good mood that she knew Luke was trying to keep to make sure she was happy, the prankster smiled genuinely and hugged her brother in thanks.

Back at Royal Woods High however, the mood was not particularly good for a certain brown haired theatre freshman. Having been pulled away from any prying eyes, Benny found himself being shoved roughly against some lockers and staring up fearfully at three of the four terrors in his life. The boy tried his best to appear unafraid but the three jocks staring him down knew him well enough to know when he's faking.

"So, _Little Ben_ , how have you been? We haven't spoken in a bit." Darrell said, a heavy smug tone dripping from his voice.

"Uh...f-fine...pretty good, h-how about you?" Benny replied, still trying not to buckle under the fear. The three chuckled darkly at his poor attempt, Reggie taking this time to turn to his friend. "C'mon, Darrell, let's not beat around the bush."

Darrell sent a quick glance at his friend, chuckling again before speaking "You're right, why wait?" He turned his gaze back to his prey and spoke again, cutting to the chase. "So Reggie here couldn't help but overhear from a certain brown haired dyke that you turned down her annoying, clown sister. I couldn't help but wonder why so I thought, 'Why not go to the source?' So here we are."

Benny felt some anger flicker for a moment at Darrell words that he used for Luan and her sister but it was quickly snuffed when he say the looks he was being given. Swallowing a lump of saliva, the theatre kid spoke. "B-because I...uh...I don't like her..?" That seemed to be the wrong answer because before he could react, the boy felt the wind knocked out of him by the powerful fist of Reggie.

"Now, now _Little Ben_ , What have we told you about lying to us? Now give us the truth." Reggie said, pulling his arm back and tucking it into his jacket pocket. Benny clutched his stomach and leaned against the lockers as to not fall down. Taking a moment, he was able to gather enough air to speak again.

"B-because..." he paused to take another breath "Because I didn't want to be near Luke anymore than I have to." He spoke with honesty, knowing that he had just given them something they could use for later.

"Now was that so hard?" Darrell asked, before clapping him on the shoulder and looking him in the eye with an air of earnest about him "You should remember though, Luke's too much of a bitch to do anything, Little Ben. He's all bark and no bite."

Benny couldn't help but to recall his childhood and remembered Luke being the most terrifying person he had ever met, more terrifying than even Darrell, so he knew that Darrell was just talking nonsense but chose not to express it. The jock spoke again, mistaking Benny's silence for him to go on.

"I want you to do me a favor, _Benny_ " He paused with a malicious grin, grabbing the boys attention at the use of his more common nickname.

Upon school letting out, Benny found himself walking but not in the direction of his house instead in the direction of the house Darrell told him to go. Taking the time to mull over how he was gonna approach this, having remembered the chilling glare that Luan's older sister had sent him in the hall earlier. After almost half an hour, the boy found himself standing on the porch of The Loud House and, after remembering what Darrell told him about the doorbell, he knocked on the door.

A few minutes passed before the door was pulled open by a tall blonde with her phone in hand, a quick glance up caused the girl to do a double take before almost dropping her phone. Her surprise was quickly dwarfed by her anger as she now leveled her piercing blue eyes at the boy, clearly she knew who he was. "What are you doing here?" she asked, venom not bothering to be hidden in her tone.

"Um...is Luan home? I kinda wanted to talk to her about something." Benny got out meekly.

"Oh? Was telling her 'no' not enough for you?" Her glare hardened.

"N-no, actually I was hoping to maybe apologize and even...uh..." Benny started to trail off, a blush heavy on his cheeks which seemed to have given the girl enough information to drop her glare and sigh heavily.

"I'll go get her, but so help me if you say even one wrong thing to her..." the blonde left that hanging intentionally, seeing the boy shiver slightly before popping back into the house. After a small wait, the door was soon thrown open by the brunette that Benny was hoping to talk to, her different attire throwing him off slightly especially her hair which hadn't been in its usual ponytail.

"H-hey Benny" she said nervously, closing the door behind her, leaving the two on the porch by themselves. The boy couldn't help but feel a bit guilty and shameful, knowing he's the reason she's like this.

"Hey Luan, how...how have you be-" He began but was quickly cut off by Luan. "Can you _please_ not beat around the bush? For me?" Luan asked, rubbing her arm as she stared down at her feet. Benny sighed, knowing he couldn't do anymore harm to her by denying a simple request. Swallowing his fear, he spoke.

"Luan...I do like you."

Popping her head up in surprise, Luan looked at her crush with a look of confusion "Then why'd you reject me?"

"Because, I was scared...scared that you wouldn't like me if you got to know the real me." Benny lied, hiding his real reason as to not hurt her.

"The real you?"

"Yeah, the real me. The me that still plays with a puppet, the me that cries at movies, the me that is too weak to defend himself." The lies continued to spew from him and he couldn't stop, but he could tell the Luan believed him. She looked at him for a moment before giggling and soon turning it into full on laughter. Benny always liked her laugh, especially when she had had a small snort in the middle of it.

"That was why you looked so panicked?" Luan asked, getting her fit under control. Benny meekly nodded his head, not wanting to keep lying. "Well now I feel stupid for worrying, I thought you actually didn't like me" Luan stated, relieved at the revelation "Benny, I wouldn't you judge you for any of that stuff." Benny breathed a small sigh of relief at that.

"Well now I feel stupid and like a jerkwad." The young actor said, letting his stress drain out "I can't believe I almost ruined my chance with a pretty girl like you" he finished in a mumble. Luan felt her cheeks heat up at that.

"You...you think I'm pretty? Even with my..." Luan trailed off before gesturing to her braces clad buck teeth.

"I mean...I'd have a hard time seeing them without these" Benny stated before pulling out a large pair of circular glasses and putting them on. Luan understood the reason for why he did it and couldn't help but blush harder at that.

"So...where do we go from here?" Luan asked, her cheeks still heavily covered in pink. Benny thought about that for a moment before remembering why he even showed up in the first place.

"W-well...I was thinking we could...maybe, if you want to, go to homecoming with me?" Benny asked, easily causing a large grin to spread across the brunette girls face before she spoke.

"I'd love to, Benny."

"Great! Uh...well I guess it's a date then" The boy said with a nervous laugh before doing something risky. Leaning over slightly, he planted a small kiss on Luan's cheek before quickly pulling back. The two teens felt their faces grow hot with embarrassment. Benny coughed lightly before quickly mumbling out a quiet 'See ya tomorrow'.

Heading back home with a small bounce in his step, Benny made his way down the street. There was an unexpected tap on his shoulder which caused him to spin around quickly, fearing it was Darrell and his goons but he was met with someone more terrifying, Luke Loud himself.

"Luan asked me to take you home" he spoke curtly, shoving a yellow helmet into his chest "C'mon." The older teen spun on his heel before briskly walking over to his moped, Benny quietly walking over and getting into the side car, strapping the helmet onto his head.

The ride to Benny's house was tense, Luke not needing directions since he'd been around there before and Benny quite frankly too scared to speak. Getting a block away from his house, Luke suddenly stopped and spoke, "Get out" he said in a clipped tone, leveling his gaze at Benny. The younger boy did as he was told with Luke getting off in a more casual way. The two getting onto the sidewalk quickly.

"Let's get something clear, Benjamin" Luke said, not bothering to even give Benny a moment to gather his thoughts, "Just because I haven't bothered with you anymore, does not give you any damn right to get close to Luan or any of my sisters for that matter. I was hoping this little crush of hers would've died when I thought you'd reject her but I see that you're very quick to think with your dick than your brain."

Benny felt angry about this, he knew it'd be dumb of him to do this but he stepped up to Luke, having remembered Darrell's words. "I am not thinking with my... _thing!_ I do like Luan and I'm not missing my chance at being with her so you'll just have to deal with that!" Luke was taken aback at that for a moment before his cold expression returned.

Taking advantage of the distance that Benny had closed, Luke grabbed the boys' shirt and lifted him slightly. "Who told you to have a damn spine, Hillson?! I'm being nice enough to let you take her to homecoming and I _damn_ sure am being nice about letting that little _kiss_ slide! So don't start acting so high and mighty now!" Luke shouted, having spat the word kiss as if it was filth in his mouth.

After a moment, Luke had caught his breath enough to speak more evenly this time, "Never speak to me like that again, _Worm_." Benny's shirt was released roughly before Luke moved to get on his moped. Stopping short, he looked over his shoulder, "Mention any of this to anyone and you're gonna have another kiss with Lucille, got it?" Benny nodded, having realized that Luke hadn't lost his bite at all.

"Good. I'll be attending homecoming to keep an eye on you, _Benjamin_ , so you better not be planning anything or I'll make you swallow your teeth" Luke spat before putting his helmet on, starting up his moped, and speeding away. Leaving Benny to have to let out a small shiver, he had poked the monster and it bared its teeth at him in retaliation.

 _ **Well this wraps Part 1, looks like we've gotten a look at Luke's true colors as well as some set up for some drama. What could Darrell have asked of Benny? What kind of history does Luke seem to have with all of them? And Who exactly is Lucille? You'll all have those answers soon but until then, Stay Tuned Readers!**_


	7. Comforting Confrontation: Part 2

Not So Loud...

 _ **Hello readers and welcome to part 2. This installment should be a fun one for you all as you seem to have enjoyed the last chapter, I won't keep you so I hope you enjoy it!**_

 _Comforting Confrontation: Part 2_

To say Lori and Leni were happy to find out that two of their younger siblings were going to homecoming would be an understatement. The rest of the week was filled with nothing but shopping trips, against Luke's will, as well as practicing a few slow dances, due to the fact that Luan has two left feet and Luke has only a right one. After the week was over and the weekend began, final preparations needed to be made.

 _FWEEEEEET!_

"Ahhh!" cried Luke as he tumbled out of his bed due to the sudden sound of the whistle. "Ow...what the hell, Lori?" he grumbled out, eyeing his older sister who merely stood over him in her usual clothes and a silver whistle around her neck.

"Needed to get you up somehow. Now c'mon, wasting time talking!" The oldest sister stated, grabbing her younger brother by his shirt and pulling him from his room where the other highschool teens were waiting in the hallway for the missing two. Luke got his shirt free from Lori's grip before voicing his confusion.

"Why'd you have to wake me up? Homecoming isn't for like..." Luke paused to look into his room at Lincoln's Ace Savvy Alarm Clock which showed that it was almost noon. "Nine more hours!" he finished, clearly annoyed at the rude awakening.

"Yeah, which means we're behind schedule! We still have to put the final touches on our outfits, do all of our hair, get manipedis, and do our makeup!" Lori exclaimed, Leni and Luan agreeing with her.

"Ugh! Fiiiiine." Luke groaned out before making his way to the bathroom to wash up. Once he was finished, he turned towards Lori and Leni's door where, surprisingly, his suit was hanging with a note in Lori's handwriting.

' _Go put your suit on and come back when the door's open._

 _P.S. Don't. Spill. Anything. On. It.'_

Heaving a heavy sigh, the oldest Loud boy turned and went back into his room, reemerging a few minutes later wearing the stone grey, tailored suit. Making his way over, Luke leaned against the door and waited for the door to open and while he waited however, something unexpected happened.

"Whoa, looking good, Brah!" came the voice of his twin who was coming upstairs with a root beer in hand. "Trying to impress someone?" she asked, waggling her eyebrows at him, causing a light blush to form on Luke's cheeks and instead of answering her, he just sent her a glare before he posed the question back at her.

"I don't know about me, but you certainly are. I thought you ripped those pants." Luke stated, gesturing to the pair of slacks that she was wearing.

"Nah, these are new, the right size this time too." Luna explained as she popped the tab on her soda and took a sip. "Now that you mention it though, I probably should wear some leggings under here. Just in case" Luna said but before she could continue, Lori and Leni's door was opened and Luke made his way inside with Luna, surprisingly, choosing to follow.

Upon entering, the brunette twins were met with the sights of their sisters wearing rather beautiful looking dresses. "Uh...Leni...you know Seafoam green isn't a fall color right?" Luke asked, looking at the more autumn take on her usual sundress to which Leni easily nodded her head in reply.

"Oh I know, but fall colors totes don't go well with my skin tone" the fashionista stated simply before adding, "And I, like, already told Chaz to wear a matching tie."

"Ah, I guess that makes sense..." Luke mumbled, rubbing his chin in thought before remembering something "Wait, where's my tie?"

"That's why we needed to make these final touches, Luke" Lori spoke up, walking over to her brother with a tie in each hand, leaning over slightly to place the ties near his neck and looking between them. "Let's see, purple or gold..." she muttered, moving each individually to Luke's collar before finally deciding on the purple one and started to tie it with ease. "There we go, _literally_ perfect" she said, leaning back up before something caught her eye and she began to giggle.

"What? What's so funny?" Luke asked, raising an eyebrow at his older sister.

"No wonder purple works on you. You and Luna _literally_ look almost identical!" Lori said, grabbing the attention of Leni and Luan, the latter of whom was having her yellow dress looked over in detail by the former.

"Oh My Gosh, you two totes do, I can't believe I never noticed!" Leni added.

"Nah, Luke doesn't have freckles" Luan pointed out, causing the girls to stare intently at their brother. The staring being more specifically put on his cheeks where they could faintly see the similar splashes of dots in the same place as Luna's own.

"Whoa dude, you really need some sun, you're almost as pale as Lucy" Luna stated, the girls having stopped their staring. Luke turned to his twin and shot her a glare at that statement.

"Not all of us tan well like you four" Luke grumbled. The girls seemingly taking that as a compliment but quickly realized they were wasting time.

"Alright, alright, enough talking, we still have to get stuff done before our dates get here" Lori said, clapping her hands to grab everyone's attention, "Everything look fine to you, Leni?" the older blonde asked the younger.

"Totes" Leni stated, with her usual big smile.

"Alright then, let's get out of these and go get some lunch" Lori said, gesturing Luke out of the room so that the three could get dressed. Luke easily leaving to go change and Luna shrugging before going into her room, her curiosity having been sated. Luke got back into his normal clothes and hung his suit up with his dress shoes below it. Exiting his room, he made his way down stairs and was met with a soccer ball to the chest, effectively knocking the wind out of him.

"Oh, sorry about that Luke!" came the voice of his athletic sister, Lynn Jr.

"It's...it's fine, Pup, at least it wasn't lower like last time..." Luke replied, taking a few deep breaths before standing with the soccer ball now tucked under his arm. "Little warning next time though."

"Didn't know you were coming down when I kicked it."

"Fair enough" Luke said before looking around at the living room and seeing Lincoln, Lucy, and Lily as the only other siblings in the room, "Where are the twins?"

"Outside, with Lisa, seeing who's car's faster" The young athlete stated, taking her soccer ball from under Luke's arm. "I still don't see why you gave Lana her own car, they seemed fine with sharing Lola's" Lynn added.

Luke, after some really good convincing from Luan, had decided to give Lana her gift early and was gonna just give them both something equal for their birthday. Since the day she got it however, Lana has been doing nothing but either drive the car, Mud Flinger as she called it, or work on it. Needless to say that was the first, and hopefully only, time Lana had ever screamed as girly as Lola.

"Well, I figured she'd want her own" Luke stated with a shrug.

"Well I could use some new baseball equipment" Lynn said with a hopeful smile.

"Then ask Ma and Pa" Luke shot back before walking past her, easily hearing her mutter out 'Dang it' as he passed. Not bothering to sit down, Luke pulled his phone out but quickly remembered something he'd been meaning to tell Lincoln. "Oh, Linc, QT's bringing Renee with her when she shows up so be nice and remember to watch out for fans" Luke said, seeing his little brother flinch before quickly turning around and leveling a glare at him. The glare losing its effect due to the heavy blush on his face.

"I told you that was an accident!" the white haired boy exclaimed only for Luke to start laughing at him, Lynn easily joining in at that. The two continued to laugh before being cut short by the usual sound of first graders arguing as the backdoor to the house was thrown open. A pair of blondes walking into the living room shouting at each other with a smaller brunette behind them with a disinterested look on her face.

"For the last time, I didn't cheat!" Lana screamed, stomping her foot indignantly.

"You cut me off on the last lap on purpose! That's cheating!" Lola snapped back, getting into her older twins face.

"Hey, hey, hey. What's going on here?" Luke interrupted, getting physically between the angry blondes. At hearing their brothers' voice, the two quickly began to talk at the same time with one of them trying to get louder over the other as they kept talking. Knowing he'd get nowhere with this, Luke heaved a sigh before stomping his prosthetic foot on the ground causing the two to cease immediately. "Now that I have your attention, explain what happened, one at a time."

Lana started before Lola could even open her mouth, "Lola's being all butt hurt that Mud Flinger is faster than her _stupid_ Princess Car!"

"I don't care which is faster! Your _stupid_ rust bucket nearly made me crash! I could've messed up my beautiful face!"

"I can mess it up right now and not need a car!" Lana said, rolling her shirt sleeve up.

"You wanna go, Bug Breath?!"

"Ready when you are, Aunt Shirley!"

There was a sudden hush that fell over the room at Lana's statement, everyone staring wide-eyed at the little handywoman while her lookalike stood in front of her, rage very prominent on her face. "What did you just call me?" Lola asked through clenched teeth, her hands having balled into fists as they shook.

"I called you Aunt Shirley."

"Take it back. _Now_."

"Make me." Lana challenged, keeping her glare even with Lola's and in the blink of an eye, the pageant winner pounced but before her nails could get near Lana's face, she was picked up by the back of her dress and dangled in the air kicking and screaming.

"Let me go! I'm gonna teach her a lesson! No one compares me to Aunt Shirley and gets away with it!" Lola screeched, trying to wrestle her way out of Luke's grip. While Lola was off the ground, kicking and scratching at her older brother, Lana was on the ground making faces at her younger twin.

"Not helping, Lans" Luke grunted out trying to keep a hold on the small girl before he was given relief in the form of Lori who merely took Lola from her brother.

"I've got this one, you handle Lana" The eldest daughter said before walking up the stairs. Luke turned to the small handywoman and knelt down to her.

"You know the 'Aunt Shirley' thing was uncalled for right?" Luke asked only earning a small hmph from the girl as she folded her arms over her chest.

"She started it. Not my fault I won" Lana muttered out softly.

"But you could've gone for something like Princess Pony, it was the easier shot to take. C'mon Lans, I taught you to have some honor in your smack talking _especially_ with family" Luke stated, looking at the little blonde with a raised eyebrow who in turn let out a defeated sigh.

"I guess you're right...sorry..."

"Nothing to be sorry about, I'm kinda proud honestly" The older boy said with a smirk, making Lana's own smile start to appear before he continued "But next time, try not to make Lola want to claw your eyes out." Lana nodded at that, her smile not leaving until she saw the two blonde sisters return downstairs, the younger of the two having calmed down a bit. Walking up to her older twin, Lola looked at her for a moment before rolling her eyes and sighing but before speaking, she was cut off by Lana.

"Sorry for calling you Aunt Shirley, Lols. That was kinda low, even for me." The pageant winner was shocked at the apology, half expecting a snide remark from the tomboy.

"Apology accepted. I still owe you for calling me Aunt Shirley though" the princess said, Lana sighed at this before closing her eyes, expecting a punch or kick. Instead, in an unexpected twist, Lori handed the small girl a tube of some sort and with quick yet experienced precision, Lola swiftly applied lipstick to her twins lips.

Lana's eyes shot open wide upon the substance being put on her and, after taking a quick glance at the tube in her twins hands, went screaming out of the room with her hands trying to desperately rub the cosmetic off. The two blondes started laughing while everyone else in the room held looks of shock.

"That'll teach her" Lola exclaimed between giggles before handing the tube back to Lori and leaving the room in the same direction Lana went.

"Well that was...unexpected to say the least" Luke said, his shock having worn off before turning to Lori "Anyway think we should start on lunch before we start getting the preparations finished?"

"Who's ordering this time?" The taller blonde asked easily, Luke merely looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I ordered last time, it's your turn this time" the eldest daughter said with a roll of her eyes, Luke just sighed at that, knowing she was right.

"Just two extra larges? Or should we splurge a bit on them?" Luke asked, pulling his phone out.

Lori thought the question over before answering,"Hmm...splurge, it's a special day today but no personal orders." Luke nodded before dialing the pizza place that the Loud family usually orders from. Someone picked up on the other line and Luke began to place the order. After putting in the order and giving them his debit card information, the eldest boy hung up.

"Should be here in about an hour or so. Also got a nice deal on some hot wings" Luke informed Lori, the latter nodding before doing her usual hobby of texting on her phone, most likely texting Bobby while Luke secretly began to text Carol, still a bit upset that she wasn't going to the dance since something unexpected came up at home.

Time passed by quickly, Luna having come down to grab another root beer but stayed due to finding out they were having pizza for lunch, as well as Leni and Luan coming down right after, and the parents exited their room after having finally woken up for the day. There was soon a knock on the door and Luke walked over to answer it. To his surprise, Ian, Nicky's current boyfriend, was at the door.

"Oh man, I knew the address seemed familiar. Sup, Lothar! Haven't seen you all week!" the lead singer said. Luke was visibly cringed at the nickname but tried not to seem bothered by it.

"Hey, du-" Luke began but was cut off by Luna who had run over to greet her friend.

"Ian! Been _Taking Care of Business_ , I see" Luna said, casually sliding a reference into her statement.

"Sup, Lunes! Excited for the gig tonight?" Ian asked her, his excitement palpable to the Loud Family.

"Yeah, dude! Still can't believe you got us at The Turquoise Elixir!"

"The Turquoise Elixir? How'd you swing that?" Luke asked, suspicion leaking from his voice. While Luke was the last person in the family who has a right to judge any of his siblings, he couldn't help but worry about what Ian might be getting them into.

"Calm down, Lothar, at least I didn't get us a gig at _Velvety Vixen_ " Ian said with a small shrug before looking at Luna and finally noticing her outfit. "Well someone's dressin' to impress."

"Psh, nah, just wanted to mix it up a bit." Luke and Ian both looked skeptical at her at that, knowing for a fact the brunette rocker was lying.

"Riiiight, so the cleavage and perfume are a part of 'mixing it up'?" Luke asked, causing his twin to immediately wrap her arms around her chest with a light blush. The two teens laughed at that reaction before Ian felt his phone buzz. The boy quickly answered the device and was bombarded by the angry shouts of his boss.

"Right. Yes. Uh-huh. I'll get right on, Boss!" the pizza boy said, hanging up and turning to the twins "I gotta run! A few more deliveries to make, then I'll be off to get ready."

"Alright, brah, take care" Luna said, taking the pizzas and heading to the dining room while Luke signed the receipt and waving to the vocalist as he closed the door.

"Ugh, finally! We've _literally_ been starving!" Lori exclaimed, seeing the older twins enter the room. The rest of the family sharing her sentiments as the two placed the pizzas down.

"Whoa!" Came the voice of Lincoln.

"This is for all of us?" Luan asked.

"Dibs on the wings!" Cried Lynn Jr. And with that the family of fourteen dug into their meal. With the pizza and desserts finished, belly's now filled, the dance goers sprung up and sprinted up to the front door.

"We'll be back in a few, Mom!" Lori exclaimed, grabbing the keys to Vanzilla as she went out the front door. Untrue to her word, the four returned from the appointment two and a half hours later with a visibly exhausted Luke making up the rear of the line. Upon the door being closed, the oldest boy collapsed to the ground.

"You okay, Luke?" asked a concerned Lynn Sr, taking in his son's crumbled state. Luke turned his head to the side as he looked up at his dad with an empty expression, one that Lynn himself had every time he went shopping with Rita.

"If that's how long 'A few minutes' is with sisters, then I have a newfound respect for you..." the teen stated, missing the understanding look from his father. Lynn merely patting his son's head before moving to the couch where his younger daughters were watching a cartoon movie.

"C'mon, Lukey, we still have to do your hair!" Leni exclaimed excitedly. That caught Luke's attention as he seemed to have gotten a second wind and sprung up from the floor, nearly bumping into the platinum blonde. Hands quickly covering his thick, brown hair, Luke sent a glare at his older sisters.

"You're not touching my hair."

Lori scoffed at that before saying "We have to do something about that mess. You _literally_ still have bed head!"

"Yeah, so does Luna and Lisa but I don't see you guys assaulting their heads!"

"They don't have long hair."

"What does hair length have to do with it?!" Luke cried, trying to get some distance from the blondes.

"Everything. Now c'mon before I get Lynn to pin you down."

The two siblings stared each other down for a bit, Luke not moving his hands and Lori weighting the option of calling on her athletic sister. The tension was broken however, when Leni decided to step forward and speak gently to her brother.

"Please, Lukey, we just want to make you look really handsome for Isabelle, that's all. I promise we won't hurt you this time, I even have a nylon brush for you." The teen spoke in her usual motherly tone.

A few more moments passed before Luke sighed and removed his hands, "Fine but I'm holding you to that promise, Leni."

"Yaaay! Thanks, Lukey!" Leni exclaimed, hugging her brother tightly before escorting him upstairs with their older sister in tow. To say the process was painless would be a lie, at least until Leni took over the brushing and then it was the most painless thing in the world to the elder Loud boy. Time passed by quicker than they all expected, Luna having left for her gig with the band, before there was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it!" called Lynn Sr, opening the door to the Thomas sisters. QT holding her dress in a garment bag with a soft smile while Renee was merely reading an Ace Savvy comic next to her, the utility belt clamped to her waist.

"Hey, Mr. Loud!" QT said, waving at the dad of her best friend while her little sister waved without saying a word. The two entered the humble abode as Lynn closed the door behind them.

"Hey, Renee" Lincoln said, making the younger brunette pause in her reading to look at the snow capped boy with a blank expression before making her way over and sitting next to him on the couch.

"Renee, don't be rude" QT said sternly, only to receive an eye roll from the smaller brunette. " _Renee Jacklyn Thomas_ , don't you roll your eyes at me and don't be rude" QT exclaimed in a stern, motherly tone.

"UGH!" The smaller brunette said before turning to her classmate with a harshly sarcastic tone, "Hello, Lincoln, it's a _pleasure_ to be here."

" _Renee_..." QT uttered before she felt a hand on her shoulder, turning her head, she saw that it was Luke who merely shook his head. The taller brunette sighed heavily before nodding, "Alright, whatever, I need to start getting ready anyway."

QT started to make her way up the stairs with Luke in tow, keeping his head down the whole way. Renee merely rolled her eyes and went back to her comic while Lincoln was entirely confused by what just happened. Once the two brunette teens entered Luke's room, the taller one quickly flopped onto his bed and screamed into his pillow.

Luke sat down at his desk and waited for her to be done before speaking, "So what was that about?"

QT sat up slowly before looking at her friend and before she could answer, she suddenly noticed Luke's hairstyle, "Whoa, dude. Nice hair, never thought I'd see you rocking the Viking look."

The teen's hand immediately went to the braid that was resting on his shoulder, "Yeah, it was Leni's idea."

"Oh? Well it looks nice."

"Thanks, but anyway, what's going on with Renee? I've never seen her act that...uh...what's the word?"

"Bitchy? Yeah, she's been acting like that all day."

"Do you have any idea as to why?"

"She wasn't too happy finding out that she couldn't stay home while my parents and I were out for the night."

"Ah...sounds about right when it comes to Renee. Never thought I'd see you act like your mom though."

"Ugh, tell me about it." At that statement, the door opened to reveal Lori wearing her dress and what looked to be a bit more makeup than she normally wears. Luke wasn't surprised at that, considering the fact that whenever his sister had a chance to dress fancy in front of Bobby then she'd pull out all the stops.

"Oh great, you're here Belle! I was starting to get worried that you were gonna stand Luke up," The oldest teen said, adding a small chuckle to show she was joking "Let's get you ready for tonight though, we've only got about an hour left before we need to leave."

Before either brunette could say anything, Lori had taken QT's arm and garment bag before practically dragging the taller brunette into her shared room. Luke sat there in confusion for a bit, trying to piece together what he just witnessed. After a moment of gathering his thoughts however, the boy rolled his eyes before choosing to start getting himself ready.

After a few minutes, Luke was ready and waiting in the living room with the others. The sounds of girlish giggling could be faintly heard from upstairs as the girls continued to get ready. Suddenly there was a knock at the door and with little effort, Lynn Sr. got up and opened it wide only for Luke to see the familiar eyes of the last person he wanted to see: Benny.

"Oh...H-hey, Mr. Loud" The younger teen muttered, a look of uncomfortability etched on his face but before the patriarch could say anything, an older woman with black hair spoke.

"Why, hello there, I'm Robyn Hillson. Benny's mother" she said, extending her hand outwards.

"Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Hillson, I'm Lynn Loud Sr. Luan's father" He responded, shaking the woman's hand firmly. "Luan and the others will be down in a bit but until then, would you care for some tea or coffee?" The father of twelve asked to which the woman gave a nod of acceptance before making her way inside. The two parents made their way into the kitchen for their beverages while Benny stood in the doorway, being glared at by his dates younger siblings and her older brother giving him a chilling side glance.

"You're letting the bugs in" Luke said flatly, making the boy realize his error and quickly stepped inside before shutting the door behind him. Benny remained stock still after making his way into the house while a particular set of blue eyed little girls kept their gazes on him, making him feel even more uncomfortable.

With one word, the princess looking girl got the boy to move. "Sit, Benjamin" She said sharply before pointing to the chair that wasn't too far away from the couch. The tone as to which she said it got him to comply very quickly before he saw the girl get off the couch, jump onto the coffee table and make her way over to him. Under a scrutinizing eye, Benny was looked over by the small blonde who didn't once let up on her glare but just as she was about to speak, there a ring of the doorbell followed by the sound of a loud thud and groan.

Lola sent one more glare before hopping off the table and making her way over to the door and peered outside. The girl saw three figures on the porch, two of the figures helping the third off the ground. After a moment, the tallest of the figures turned to the small girl and spoke in a friendly tone.

"Oh hey, Lola, sorry about the noise" Bobby spoke, smiling nervously at the terrifying girl. Lola merely raised a single eyebrow as if to ask what happened and Bobby responded in kind. "Kinda forgot to tell Chaz _not_ to ring the doorbell."

"Yeah, a bit of a heads up would be great next time, Santiago" Chaz said, clearly annoyed at having been shocked but the annoyance went away quickly as the boy got over the surprise.

"Hey Bobby, Ronnie Anne. Lori'll be down in a few" The pageant princess said just as friendly. With that, the three made their way inside the house as Lola slammed it behind them.

"Hey Ronnie Anne" Lincoln said, catching the young Latina's attention.

"Sup, Lame-O" she called back before realizing there was someone sitting next to the boy, a very familiar someone. "Oh!" she started before something odd happened, she blushed "Hey, Renee, didn't expect to see you here..."

"Not like I wanted to be" the young brunette responded, rolling her eyes at Ronnie Anne's statement only making the Latina nervously chuckle.

"Same here" she said. Before their conversation could continue though, Bobby interrupted them.

"Whoa..." he said, looking up the stairs as he saw his girlfriend start to descend followed by Leni, QT, and Luan who made up the rear of their line. Each teen boy giving their own 'Whoa' as they took in their dates.

Meanwhile, across town, the third born of the family was helping her band set up for their gig. With only a few more things to place before they can start relaxing, the anxious energy was starting to become palpable to the point where it began to look as though Ian was about to drop the whole thing.

"Dude, chill. It's not like this is our first one" Luna said, placing a hand on her friends shoulder.

"I'm trying, Lunes, but this is our first _real_ gig! Like in front of other rockers like us, more experienced than us" The singer responded, looking back at his friend.

"So? They're here to rock, not judge."

"I know, but-" Ian began but was cut off by a pair of hands grabbing his face and a pair of lips planting themselves on his. After being hushed by the gesture, Ian saw that it was Nicky who simply stood in front of him with a soft smile.

"C'mon Ian, we'll be fine, we've got the sound they want and we wouldn't have gotten the gig if they didn't think so" The red head said, moving her bangs slightly to look him in the eye.

Ian, while a bit more cooled, still seemed nervous and that's when Sam made it her que to speak, "I have something that can help you."

"What? A joint?" Ian asked sarcastically.

"Nope, a mantra" the blonde responded kindly before adding "Luna's Mantra to be exact." That caught the three's attention, Ian and Nicky being confused while Luna smiled softly at the suggestion. "It's real easy actually" Sam said, pausing to take a breath before continuing "Repeat after me: Don't fret, just play your set."

The brown haired singer did as he was told, running through the mantra a good couple of times before he seemed to finally calm down enough for them to finish preparations.

While the band finished and awaited to be called to stage, a certain blonde haired teen came into the building with a taller brunette following close behind her. "Ugh, why'd I let you talk me into coming to some stupid rock concert?" Asked one Carol Pingrey who turned to the side shaved boy that was behind her.

"C'mon babe, you said somewhere exciting! And this..." he paused to gesture around at the people who were either chatting or drinking, "This is exciting! Plus I heard this band's pretty good" he finished, his excitement having been shown so easily to the girl.

Carol looked at him for a bit with faux annoyance before smiling, "You're lucky you're cute" she said before pecking the boy on the cheek. The teen had a response at the ready for that but was cut off when her saw what looked to be a college student get on the stage.

"For those about to rock!" he exclaimed to which he got the immediate response from the audience.

"We salute you!" they cried out.

The college student chuckled at that "Rock on! Now I'd like to introduce to you all some personal faves of mine! _The Scrummy Badgers!_ " he declared, gesturing to the band that was walking onto the stage with a rapturous applause.

As they walked out, Carol noticed that the band members seemed to be teens but her casual observation was thrown out of the window when she saw a guitarist walk out. Had it not been for the hair and obvious chest mounds Carol would've thought Luke himself walked out on stage but it was someone just as bad, his twin sister Luna.

Carol felt her heart drop to her stomach upon the rocker coming out and that feeling only got worse when the girl looked out to the audience and then saw her. The look of surprise on the girl's face almost made Carol want to vomit but her surprise soon disappeared and she smiled warmly at the girl before giving her a wink.

With a countdown and clacking of the drumsticks, the band launched into their first song but the music fell on deaf ears for Carol as all she could think of was how screwed she was now that Luna had seen her and possibly with another guy who clearly wasn't her brother. Song after song played and Carol saw the audience getting really into the music, especially when Luna herself started singing a song she wrote.

The set was played and the audience gave an ear splitting applause while Carol's date, Adam, let out a few hollers and whistles even throwing up the goats to the band. Carol however, couldn't help but start to feel dizzy. Adam noticed this and helped her to a seat before leaving to get her some water.

"This is bad...this is _really_ bad..." Carol muttered to herself, tears welling up in her eyes at the idea of what could soon become a catastrophe. With her muttering and tears though, the blonde didn't notice a brunette's approach.

"Sup CP, didn't expect you to be here!" Luna exclaimed, taking the seat opposite of the older teen.

"Yeah...a... _friend_...of mine wanted to come here and I couldn't say no" Carol responded, trying not to make eye contact with the rocker. Luna noticed her odd behavior and leaned forward a bit in her seat.

"You feeling okay? You look a little pale" Luna commented, placing the back of her hand on Carol's forehead and took note of how warm it was. She opened her mouth to speak again before someone came over, a glass of water in his hand.

"Here you go, babe! Geez, I didn't know you were-oh! Sorry, didn't see you there" Adam said, noticing Luna sitting there, extending his hand to greet her "I'm Adam, nice to meet you."

"Luna" the girl responded, shaking his hand while holding a look of confusion on her face.

"Man, you guys were awesome up there! You guys gotta be like pros or something!" the taller brunette said, talking excitedly while the two teen girls stared at each other, Carol holding a look of worry and fear while Luna simply held confusion and suspicion. The brunette rocker deciding to voice her confusion to the boy.

"Say, Adam, are you and Carol dating?" Luna asked hoping her gut feeling was wrong but she noticed Carol flinch at the question while the older boy seemed confused at first before his excitement returned at the question.

"Oh yeah, dudette, two years as of today!" he exclaimed, smiling bright before continuing "I'm actually surprised she wanted to celebrate it here than at a restaurant."

Luna's eyes widened at that before her surprise turned to complete outrage. In one motion, the girl shot up from her seat and, as if it was a scene from a typical Romance movie that she and the girls watched together, snatched the glass from in front of Carol and threw its contents into her face. The two older teens taken aback by her actions but too shocked to stop her as she stormed out.

Back at Royal Woods High, Luke was currently sitting at a table by himself while the others either danced or talked to their friends. Looking around idly, Luke took note of some people sneaking off to possibly private locations with their dates. Releasing a sigh at that, knowing what they were possibly getting up to, Luke continued to look around before he noticed Benny slinking off but quickly stopped at turned around, making eye contact with Luke before hurrying out of the gymnasium.

Without hesitation, Luke shot up from his table and made his way over to the doors that Benny had walked through. Once through, Luke saw the younger teen round the corner and he quickly chased after. Benny looked over his shoulder and noticed Luke following which made him speed up significantly, shooting around a corner with Luke having chosen to speed up himself.

After many twists and turns however, Luke finally caught Benny and proceeded to pin him to a wall roughly. "Where the hell are you going, Hillson?" Luke asked suspiciously, his anger flaring a bit.

"I-I was just trying to go to the bathroom! Honest!" Benny exclaimed, throwing his hands up in surrender.

"Then why were you running? Why didn't you just say that when I first spotted you?"

"W-well I-" Benny started but was cut off.

"Well you what? Wanted me to chase you? Wanted to make me think you were up to something? Answer me, Hillson. I'm working on very little patience with you" Luke said, venom starting to seep into his tone as he spoke. Benny seemed to be too scared to respond to the older teen which only added fuel to a building fire.

Luke slammed the boy into the wall, knocking the air out of him "Answer me!" He roared the statement out. Benny still didn't response, even when he regained to air in his lungs, which only seemed to piss the older brunette off more. Luke, having had enough of Benny's cowardice and sneaky behavior, cocked his fist back with the intention of sending it to Benny's face.

Just as the eldest Loud boy was gonna send the fist hurtling forward, it was stopped and he was pulled from the freshman with sudden force. In a quick motion, Luke hit the lockers on the other side of the hall. Clearing the small amount of dizziness from his head, he stood on his feet and was greeted by the sight of Darrell, Reggie, and Bradley.

"What the hell are you three doing here?" Luke spat, his anger rising more than it already was.

"What's it look like, dumbass? We're helping our boy out" Darrell said before turning to Benny "You did good, Benny, now go so you don't keep her waiting." Benny nodded dumbly at that before pushing past the older teens and making his way down the hallway before turning the corner.

"So you're outsourcing your help now, Darrell? Didn't think I'd see the day, but then again worms like him do go great with dirt like you" Luke spat, his displeasure very evident. Darrell didn't take too well to that statement and without much prompting, he lunged towards Luke.

The brunette didn't seem surprised by the move and easily sidestepped the charge but was blindsided by the cross that Reggie threw when he wasn't looking. Putting his arms up in a trained block, Luke didn't feel the hit connect and just as he was lowering his arms, he was tackled to the ground.

Darrell straddled the brunette before going for a jab to his face, Luke easily moving his head out of the way before performing a cross of his own, landing it on Darrell's jaw while the jock was recoiling from accidentally punching the tile floor. Luke wiggled his way from beneath his old friend before back rolling to get to his feet. As his foot made contact with the ground again, Bradley rushed forward with Reggie flanking him.

Bradley threw two quick jabs towards Luke, hoping one would at least clip him but they didn't and once Reggie saw that, he threw in a high kick that the eldest Loud boy ducked under with easy. Luke saw an opportunity with Reggie's kick however and took advantage of it, before the dirty blonde could put his leg back down, Luke did a leg sweep which caused Reggie to be knock off balance and go crashing to the ground with a thud as his head hit the tile.

Upon coming back up from the sweep, Luke was met with a haymaker that Bradley had thrown. Luke was almost knocked to the ground from that, but he quickly planted his feet and threw his head up from his bent position, knocking into Bradley's nose. Before regaining his bearings however, Luke was brought to the ground again by Darrell, who now took advantage of Luke's disorientation to straddle him again this time succeed into landing a hit on the brunette which furthered his disorientation.

Darrell now seized his opportunity and began to land punch after punch on the boy, starting to draw blood as he laid into him and Luke did the best he could as he blocked some of the hits from landing. This continued to happen until Darrell felt his fists start to ache and that's when he chose to let up, getting off the boy entirely before giving a swift kick to his ribs. Luke layed there in pain, his nose bleeding and his arms ached from the hits they took as well as his head from the repeated hits.

"Now let this be a damn lesson to you. When I tell you to do something, you do it. Got it?" Darrell spat out before kicking Luke in the ribs again to try and get a response but didn't receive one. "Tch, guess getting your ass whooped runs in the family" Darrell stated smugly before gesturing for Reggie and Bradley to follow, the two doing so while they nursed their aches that they had received.

As the three smugly walked down the hall, they didn't take care to notice the quickly approaching footsteps until the two lackeys saw their leader get completely shoulder checked by the eldest Loud boy, causing the leader to go slamming face first into the tiles. The tables had officially turned as Luke grabbed a fistful of Darrell's hair before raising it up and swiftly bringing it down into the tiles.

The sound of Darrell's face making contact with the ground had filled the hallway which made the two spring back into action as best they could but the minute either of them touched the Loud boy, they were given a rage filled punch to the crotch. Luke got off his opponent enough to roll him over but before Darrell could try to speak, Luke gave him the same punishment he had received just moments earlier but with more ferocity. Punch after punch, Luke kept going before he was quickly pried off by two sets of arms.

"Luke! What the hell?!" exclaimed the panicked tone of Bobby as he and Chaz struggled to keep Luke in their grip.

"Talk shit about my family again, Darrell! Do it! I dare you, you piece of shit! See what'll happen next time when no one's around to save your punk ass!" Luke screamed with nothing but pure rage coating his tongue. The two older teens struggled more to keep Luke held as they, alongside QT, Luan and Benny, made their way out of the school and to Vanzilla where they promptly dropped Luke next to the ancient vehicle.

"I'll stay with him, you guys go back inside and let someone know about those three" QT said, promptly letting the others go back and enjoy their night while she sat with her friend. Upon leaving, with more than a couple of worried looks being thrown back to the bloodied and bruised teen. The two sat there in silence once they were alone, neither of them daring to say a word while the dance went on.

"Sorry..." Luke muttered, breaking the silence between them.

"Sorry? What for?"

"For ruining your night..."

"Pft, you didn't ruin it. I mean, yeah I was expecting a dance from my date but to be honest, that probably would've been weird" QT stated calmly as she turned to look at her friend "If anything you kinda saved me some annoyances, can you believe how many guys kept coming onto me?"

"I would try to count but I think I'm a little too concussed to do that..." QT laughed at her friend before realizing that he might be serious. Looking him over carefully, the tall beauty figured that he didn't have anything too serious of an injury. Taking a calm breath, QT went back to relaxing with her friend with the comfortable silence taking over again.

Before either of them knew it, they saw the remaining six of their group making their ways over with four of them wearing crowns on their heads. They all seemed to be talking about something serious as when they got over, the two eldest sisters almost immediately knelt in front of their brother. After questions were answered and QT had given her report on Luke's injuries, the six teens climbed into the van before pulling off and the group made their way to the Loud house.

While the car ride had been silent with everyone seemingly worried for Luke's wellbeing, upon walking through the front door to the house, "Oh my god! Luke!" came the panicked tone of Rita as she and her husband helped get their son into the house and on the couch where Luna had been sitting but she quickly got off when she saw the state her brother was in. After being treated and questioned by his parents, Luke was allowed to go to his room with QT behind him.

Luna watched her brother go upstairs with his best friend while she continued to debate with herself on whether she should talk to Luke about what she witnessed earlier, her anger still present but kept under the surface. She'd have to tell her brother but she wouldn't do it now.

 _ **Well I hope Luna figures out what to do and soon. Also, it might be the first time but I doubt it'll be the last time we see these two slug it out in this story. I'm excited to see what you guys think so until then, Stay Tuned, Readers!**_


	8. The Truth Will Definitely Hurt

Not So Loud...

 _ **Hey Readers, sorry it took so long to get this one out to you, I was having some details tuned up and hammered out to make sure you'd all love it even more. So without further ado, please enjoy**_

 _The Truth Will Definitely Hurt_

"Luther Loud, please report to the principal's office! Luther Loud, to the principal's office, please!" cried the intercom as the aforementioned Loud boy sighed heavily as he quickly finished his English test before snatching his backpack and leaving the room. The brunette made his way very slowly down the hall, dreading what he knew was the reason as to why he was called.

Turning the corner, Luke was greeted by the sight of not only Darrell and his goons, but also one of each of their parents. What surprised the young teen however was the sight of his own mom, still clad in her scrubs, typing away at her phone as if she were an older version of Lori. Walking into the waiting area, all eyes immediately looked over to see the final person walking in. Rita paused her typing to look at her son before smiling warmly at him but before a word could be said, Principal Jeffmanor came out of his office.

Once the eight people were escorted into the room, the parents each stood behind their child while the four boys looked at anything but the very irritated Principal. "I assume you all know why we're here so I'll cut to the chase, you f-" the Principal began but was cut off.

"Why hasn't this boy been expelled yet?!" screeched a muscular redhead, slamming a hand on Jeffmanor's desk while pointing towards Luke with his other.

"Mr. McCann, I understand how upset you must be but your son isn't entirely guiltless in this either" Jeffmanor stated calmly, not affected by the mans outburst in the slightest.

"The hell's that supposed to mean?" Mr. McCann growled out.

"From what I've gathered here, your son, as well as the other three students, was injured in a fight that he had instigated with Mr. Loud" Jeffmanor replied, matter-of-factly.

"But Bradley told me that they only fought to defend this kid that the Loud kid was picking on" came the confused tone of Bradley's mother. Jeffmanor raised an eyebrow at this piece of information before leaning forward slightly in his chair.

"Ms. Evesmun, I have reason to believe that if it were you and Mr. Oldsern's son then that's as far as this would go. However given the fact that not only was Mr. McCann involved, he was the most heavily injured of the three, this seems like there's more to it than that." At that, the adults in the room all gave the silent looks towards the teens as if to tell them to explain themselves.

Minutes passed and not a word was said by any of the teens and Jeffmanor wasn't pleased about that. "Mr. Loud?" he spoke evenly, directing everyone's attention towards the silent boy.

"Yes, sir?" Luke asked, trying to seem polite while he was inwardly knowing where this was going.

"Why did you feel the need to attack Mr. Hillson on his way to the bathroom at the dance?"

Luke remained silent for a moment, weighing his words carefully before speaking. "I didn't attack Benny, I was questioning him. He was showing signs that he was up to something and given the fact that he rejected Luan one day before coming to our house and asking her to the dance the next day, I had reason to believe that someone put him up to it."

Everyone in the room remained silent at that before Jeffmanor spoke again. "Mr. Loud, this is the second time you and Mr. McCann have had an altercation while on school property. This is also, as I was told, the second time you've 'questioned' Mr. Hillson for his infatuation with your sister" he paused at this, gauging the subtle shifts in Luke's demeanor at the mention of his actions. "Mr. Loud, given the extent of the injuries you've caused in Mr. McCann, I have to enforce the zero-tolerance policy in this situation."

Luke knew what was coming next and was already preparing himself. "You're suspended for five days, Mr. Loud. You three however, will be suspended from this week's game and serve in after school detention for the next two weeks." The two Louds weren't expecting that, but Rita was faster in voicing her opinion on the situation.

"Wait a second, why does Luke get suspended but they get slaps on the wrist?!" Rita exclaimed.

"Because Mrs. Loud, these three were defending a student who was being bullied both on and off campus by your son" the principal stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Rita felt her blood boil at that but before she could even open her mouth, she felt a hand grab hers. Unballing the fist that she didn't know had been made. Looking down though, the blond saw that it was Luke who shook his head before getting up and walking out of the office.

Meanwhile, not too far away, a much younger blonde was currently being helped to the nurse by a brunette. "I-I can get there by myself, Luna" came the slightly scared voice of Carol as she was being supported by the rocker who hadn't said a word to her today. The rocker merely shot a glare at the blond, getting her to shut her mouth very quickly.

"And I can make sure you don't" came Luna's, surprisingly dark, reply. This got the blonde to fear the usually friendly brunette even more. More time passed in tense silence between them before they made it to the nurses office where Carol was given an ice pack for her knee that she hurt playing volleyball, before they were given a note and sent back.

"I haven't told him yet" Luna said.

"W-what? Why not?"

"Because I want to know why you're lying to my brother."

"O-oh..." Carol said awkwardly, finding it a bit difficult to swallow the lump in her throat at the moment but deciding to still answer "W-well...truth be told...I didn't _want_ to lie to Luke."

"What?" Luna growled out. She wasn't given a response however which made the girl look over a see that Carol was trying her best to avoid the question. While typically the rocker would try to be friendly and nice to everyone, Luna felt her anger rising with the blonde she was currently questioning.

"Because I fell in love with him..." Carol whispered out, causing Luna's grip on her to tighten. The older teen winced in slight pain from the gesture but didn't say anything about it.

"That's a load of shit and you know it, Pingrey" Luna muttered out before glaring at the girl next to her. Carol felt her heart ache at that statement, a burning sensation starting to fill her eyes as she looked away from the angry brunette.

"I do love him...and I don't want to lose him. You have to believe me on that, Luna" Carol replied, turning back to give the rocker a pleading look.

"I don't have to believe a thing you say. For all I know, you probably just want to mess with Lori."

"No! I would never use Luke like that!" Carol exclaimed but before she could continue to explain herself, the two of them reached the gym where they saw the toned figure of their teacher, Coach Woodson. The man approached them casually once he saw them and greeted them simply.

"Nice to see you two found your way back. I take it that you're not too hurt, Pingrey?" he asked simply.

"N-no, Sir..." Carol squeaked out, making the young gym teacher raise an eyebrow at her before shrugging.

"Well if that's the case, then go take a seat on the bleachers until class is over. You wait behind though, Loud." The two girls nodded before separating from each other with Carol going to where she was told.

"What's up, Coach?" Luna asked, trying to put on a calm demeanor that she usually has.

"Have you spoken to your brother today?"

"Uh...yeah, earlier today. Why?" Luna asked, confusion spreading onto her face at the sudden mention of her brother. Woodson merely sighed at that before nodding and turning to the rocker.

"He was suspended today and I was asked by Jeffmanor to make sure you knew and could help get some of his work that he'll miss this week." Luna felt her heart sink slightly at that, she had a feeling _something_ like this would've happened but she wasn't expecting a complete suspension. After telling the coach that she'd spread the word to her sisters, Woodson let the young rocker get changed and ready for her next class.

Back with Rita and Luke however, things were getting rather heated in Vanzilla as the mother of twelve continued to drive to the house. For the hundredth time that trip, Luke had heard his mother drop a swear that he could've sworn was just made up gibberish but chose not to voice that thought.

"Ugh, I can't believe that asshole! He throws you out for defending yourself but those morons just get a slap on the wrist?! That bullshit hasn't changed even from when I went there!" Rita exclaimed before gripping the steering wheel tightly as they turned onto Franklin Avenue. Let it be known that his mother's behavior at the moment was just solidifying to the older Loud boy where he, Lori, Lynn, Luna, and Lola all got their quick tempers from.

Rita heaved an angry sigh before running her hand through her thick, blond hair before tugging slightly at it, something that only Luke and Luna seemed to do when they were frustrated at something. The mother soon spoke after her anger seemed to die down enough, "I'm sorry about that, Luke. I just...I'm sorry."

Luke was confused at that, his mother didn't do anything wrong but she was apologizing? "It's fine, Ma. You didn't do anything wrong, I'm pretty sure I would've gotten suspended regardless."

"I know, but I should be setting an example rather than almost flying off the handle like that. Seems like I still need to learn how to control my temper."

"Pft, are you kidding me? It's fine if you have to vent, I'm just surprised it's you being the one who's angry and not me" Luke said, smiling slightly at his mom although she couldn't see it. Nothing else was said between the two before they made it to the house. "Guess I'll have to find something to do while I'm by myself...hooray..." Luke said sarcastically as he got his backpack.

"Actually, Luke..." Rita began, catching her son's attention, "I'll drop your punishment early, but you still have to do your homework."

"Really?! Thanks, Ma!" Luke exclaimed, reaching over and hugging his mother who easily hugged him back.

"There's still a catch though" Rita said as the two seperated from the hug. Luke couldn't help but groan at that, he should've known there was gonna be a catch. "You know how your father and I go to a game night with The McBrides, Yates, and Bobby's mother, Maria?" Rita asked, seeing her son go pale which only made her giggle a bit.

"Y-yeah..." Luke swallowed the lump in his throat.

"Well, we usually pick someone to be the dealer for the night but it seemed unfair seeing as how the wouldn't be able to have fun like the rest of us."

"Oh no..."

"The catch is that this upcoming Friday night, I'd like you to be our dealer" Rita finished simply, already knowing her sons answer.

"Who's gonna drive us home though?" Luke asked, trying to find an excuse out of this deal.

"You are, Luke"

"But I don't have a-" the teen began but was cut off as his mother held up a finger which got him quiet in an instant.

"I already know about you and QT's occasional joyrides whenever she sleeps over" Rita stated simply, making Luke panic.

"W-whaaat? Me and QT breaking the law? That's silly, mommy, we're good eggs" Luke said quickly, his panic not being hidden at all from the blonde who just looked at her son blankly. Moments passed before Luke finally broke, "Alright, alright! I'll do it...just don't tell Pa, you know I wouldn't hear the end of it if he knew."

"He already knows" Rita said, earning a shocked expression from her son before she hopped out of the van. Luke soon followed and made his way to the door wanting answers about his parents knowledge of his after dark law breaking. Depositing their stuff near the coffee table, the mother of twelve made her way to her room to change which caused Luke to stop his fish impression when he realized that his questions weren't important enough to follow her inside her room.

Back at Royal Woods High, word was quickly spreading about the supposed fight between the three jocks and one Luke Loud. Word was spreading even faster due to the fact that the jocks still had clear bandages and bruises while the older Loud boy was now nowhere to be seen in school.

"Dang, didn't think your brother was much of a fighter, Lori" The aforementioned blond's red headed friend, Becky said with a tone that showed how impressed she was.

"Who? Luke or Lincoln?" Lori asked, having not been paying attention due to her avid texting. Becky, knowing that she'd have to repeat herself more than once, put her hand over Lori's phone screen in order to make her friend look up.

"Luke, duh. Didn't you hear about him getting suspended?" Becky asked, clearly confused at the blond's obliviousness. Lori, for her part, seemed to only send a confused look back at her friend before doing something unexpected.

The eldest Loud daughter started to laugh as if she was just told the best joke she'd ever heard. Becky grew only more confused by this and at this point, Dana decided to add her two sense although in a more meek tone. "Yeah, I heard he fought all three of them at once at the Fall Solstice Dance. Apparently Coach Woodson had to get an ambulance for them."

Lori only laughed harder at that added detail, getting even more confused looks from her best friends. After a few moments, the blond teen finally calmed down enough to answer the two, "Luke probably got a good couple of punches in, but that doesn't mean he beat them, I'm sure the ambulance part is just a rumor. Heck Luke was worse off than them when we got him home that night."

Dana and Becky shared a look with each other before turning back to Lori. Becky spoke up to voice her and Dana's information, "Well, we heard it from Chaz. He said that he and Bobby had to pry Luke off of Darrell."

Lori paused at that, Bobby hadn't told her that part. If anything, the teen had just told her that Luke had been in a fight but she was too caught up in them having their King and Queen dance to actually pay attention. "Wait, so Luke actually beat them?" the blond teen asked, still trying to piece it all together.

"As far as I can tell, yeah" Dana said with Becky nodding along with her brunette friend. Lori only seemed to be more confused by all of this, especially since she's never seen Luke even get _that_ upset about anything before.

"I guess we'll need a meeting when we all get home" Lori muttered out.

"Meeting?" the two teens asked.

"Yeah. My little siblings and I like _literally_ have meetings so we can keep up with each other."

"That's...actually kind of adorable" Dana stated, donning a small smile at the idea of the apparent sibling meeting that the Loud kids always have. Lori didn't respond to her friend though, having gone back to texting but this time it was to her siblings.

Elsewhere in the school, Carol was currently panicking about the one thing that's been on her mind since her gym class with Luna. Once the class had ended, Carol had been pulled out of sight by the rocker and was given an ultimatum. Either Carol tell Luke the truth or Luna will and from what the younger brunette had said, Luke isn't the kind of person that likes being given second hand information.

The blond wasn't lying when she told the twin that she loved Luke, but she also wasn't telling the whole truth. Truth be told, Carol had originally only dated the Loud because she and Adam had taken a break and wanted to see other people but she didn't expect to actually enjoy spending time with the brunette and before she knew it, she fell in love. Now though, she might lose him and it honestly hurt her to think that she'd lose someone so great because of her own cowardice.

"How am I gonna break it to him though? I can't just spring this on him" Carol muttered under her breath. She began to pace back and forth in the empty classroom that she was currently holed up in, due to having a free period at the moment. The blond was pacing so much to the point where she didn't hear the door open behind her, soon the girl felt a tap on her shoulder and she let out a squeak before spinning on her heel to look at the person and was taken aback when she had almost spun headfirst into a sizable chest before she looked up to the owner of said chest. The blond was greeted by the beautiful face of Luke's best friend, QT.

"I thought it was you I saw in here. What brings you here, Carol?" the beautiful brunette asked. Carol felt her face drain slightly at the sight of the girl, QT being next to the last person Carol wanted to see right now especially when the blond knew how protective the, surprisingly, younger teen was of Luke.

"Oh nothing, just uh...thinking" Carol answered, trying not to let her panic show.

"Thinking? You seem like you're doing more than just thinking. Is something wrong?"

"Uh...well..." Carol began, her nerves starting to get the best of her as she thought of an out, "It's uh...about Luke" she finished, deciding that she couldn't think of a convincing enough out for herself and just deciding to come clean and face the music. QT looked the blond up and down, taking in her body language as well as the way she was talking before she deduced it all.

"O-oh! Y-you're uh...thinking about _that_ " the brunette said, a small blush appearing on her cheeks as she deduced, wrongly, what Carol was nervous about when it came to Luke. The older teen gave a small look of confusion before realizing what the girl was implying and realized that she was just given the out that she was looking for.

Seizing the opportunity, Carol responded with a small nod which made the brunette blush even more. "W-well uh...just...geez this is awkward" QT said, rubbing the back of her head nervously while she looked away from her friends' significant other.

"Yeah, I was just thinking that maybe it was time for us to...y'know...take the plunge" Carol said, her own blush forming. QT swallowed thickly before nodding sheepishly but refusing to voice her opinion on it. A few moments of silence passed between the two before QT finally spoke again.

"Just make sure to use...y'know..." the brunette said lamely before deciding to slowly make her way out of the room in an attempt to go cool her face off since it was practically on fire by now. Carol, for her part, only felt relief wash over her at the brunettes exit but the relief was short lived when the blond realized what she had just done, she had just put an idea in QT's head that she had a feeling that the brunette would put into Luke's head.

"This just keeps getting worse..." Carol mumbled out as she rubbed her forehead, trying to ease the headache she felt forming.

In all honesty, Benny should've known that his business with the three jocks wasn't finished but the poor boy could dream, couldn't he? The young, theatre kid was currently in a similar situation than he was before with him staring up slightly at the intimidating athletes who didn't look too pleased with something. "Uh...h-hey guys, how's your day going?" Benny asked, causing an unexpected reaction from the three.

Darrell and his two goons actually smiled at the boy, friendly smiles at that. The poor little brunette seemed disturbed at this but before he voiced his confusion, Darrell beat him to the punch. "Aside from getting kicked from this week's game? Pretty good. How's it feel getting crowned Prince of Homecoming?"

Benny's confusion only continued at that as he spoke, "Uh...pretty good I guess? I'm just glad I got to dance with Luan" the boy finished with a small blush at the memory.

"Good, that's good. You deserve it for helping us out" Reggie spoke with a smug grin.

"For helping..? Wait, you mean, it was you guys that got us crowned?" Benny asked.

"No shit, Sherlock. You think you and Zipper lips got that on your own? We had to pull some strings for y'all to make that happen" Bradley answered with an air of smugness.

"And if you keep helping us, we can keep pulling those strings for you and maybe even help you get Little Miss Beaver to start gnawing at your wood" Darrell said, making the boy flustered at that.

"B-but what else is there for me to do? I thought you guys just wanted to beat him up" Benny said, trying to quickly change the subject.

"Oh no, Benjamin, at first this was just a simple ass kicking but now? Now I need to put him in his place and I'll need your help to do that" Darrell stated, donning a devilish grin at his own words before speaking again "And before you answer, just remember, you'd be helping us take down the same guy who made all of our childhoods living nightmares."

Benny paused at that, 'Our childhoods'? What did Darrell mean? He, Reggie, and Bradley were Luke's lackeys when they were kids. "He was your friend when we were all kids, how'd he ruin your life?" Benny asked, clearly confused at Darrells' words but the raven haired teen was prepared for this.

"I was like you, Benny. Kind, smart, and gentle but Luke came into my life and...changed me" The raven haired teen spoke, a somber expression on his face as he spoke, "He made me like this and now? I don't know how to go back to how I was before."

The freshman was surprised by this, he hadn't known Darrell before he knew Luke but he did know how they're friendship dissolved. Thinking back on it, that's probably why the jocks were upset with the Loud boy, Luke had entered their lives and messed them up before leaving. Benny pondered this for a bit and the more he thought about it, the more it made sense and the more upset he got about it.

Moments passed before the brunette spoke, "What do you need me to do?"

Back at the Loud Residence, Luke had just ended a phone call with Gramps to let him know about the removal of his punishment and after letting the elderly man do his cheers, the teen informed him that he'd be in today at his usual time. Pocketing his phone, the brunette saw his mother with her nose buried into the draft of her novel, looking for any mistakes or changes she could make to it.

"Y'know, you never answered my question, Ma" Luke said simply, drawing the woman's attention.

"What was that, sweetie?" Rita asked, having not remembering the question at all due to being absorbed into her novel.

"How'd you and Pa know about me and QT's joyrides?"

"Oh, that? Well to be honest, your father and I thought you two were sneaking off to have some 'privacy' with each other" Rita began, pausing to giggle as she heard an embarrassed squawk from the boy before continuing "But after following you two one night, we saw that you two were just getting food at a diner and talking so your father and I decided to let you two keep doing it since you both were being careful."

Luke took some time to process this before asking, "Do the others know?"

"No, just us, sweetie" Rita said with a warm smile.

"Okay, good," Luke responded before something popped into his head that he felt the need to have an answer to, "Hey, Ma?"

"Yes?"

"You can keep a secret right? Like if I told you something really private that I wouldn't want anyone else knowing, you wouldn't tell?" The teen asked hesitantly, causing the middle aged woman to immediately set her novel down before turning to her son. It was rare in the family for Luke, the eldest of the introverted kids in the family, to willingly open up about anything private.

"Of course I wouldn't, Luther. You're my son and I'd never just tell someone anything you don't want them to know" Rita said gently, looking her son in the eye as she saw him having an inner debate over the issue. Reaching out, the mother grabbed her sons hand and gave it a light squeeze, which brought the boy out of his stupor.

Swallowing thickly, the boy spoke evenly to his mother, "Mom, I'm dating Carol Pingrey." Rita took a moment to blink at the sudden knowledge she was given. Looking at her son, she could see he was being honest about it and in an instant, the woman giggled slightly before speaking.

"Oh? So it was you I saw at _El Plátano Loco_ a couple of weeks ago. I guess I owe your father a batch of strawberry muffins" Rita stated with a smile, causing the teen to look at her as if she'd grown a second head.

"You two knew?! Why didn't you say anything?!" Luke exclaimed, clearly surprised at his mom's response.

"Well truth be told, we didn't know if it was you exactly, you kinda left before we could actually know. It's not like it's a big deal though, from what we saw, you two seem to really care for each other" Rita responded, a gentle smile spreading across her face before she saw Luke's own face do the same.

"Yeah...we do" Luke started, a dreamy expression encompassing his face before a haunting realization hit him, "That means Lori's the only one in the family who doesn't know...oh no..." Luke's expression morphed into one of fear as the realization made itself known to him.

If Lori's the only one who doesn't know, that means the fallout for his relationship becoming public is gonna be that much worse. Already plans and backup plans were forming in the teens head as he was making sure that Lori didn't find out at any cost. Rita only watched as her son started to spiral at a seemingly asinine problem.

"Why not just tell her then? I'm sure that she'll understand if you just show her how much you two mean to each other then she'll understand why you kept it hidden" Rita offered out.

"It's not that simple! Lori hates Carol with every fiber of her being!"

Rita was taken aback slightly at her eldest sons outburst before trying to offer him a solution but was swiftly cutoff by more of his rambling. "Ugh, I knew I should've ended things when I had the chance! Oh who am I kidding, I wouldn't have ended it even if I knew what would happen. I'm such an idiot thinking this would work! And to make matters worse, I know Lori's gonna make me break up with her and I don't think I can handle losing Carol, especially when I just got comfortable enough to tell her that I love her." The teen rambled, his head in his hands as he tugged at his hair roughly, in hopes of the pain helping him think.

The mother of twelve simply sat there, saddened at seeing her, usually aloof, son in such a state. During his rambling, she only felt worse about his situation due to the fact that she knew how bad her eldest daughter would react when she found out that Luke was not just dating her 'Arch-enemy' but was also in love with said girl. "Well, I'm in your corner, sweetie. I'll be there with you when you want to tell her and I'm sure your father will be there for you as well" Rita said, reaching over to gently pull her son into a hug to which he gladly accepted.

If one were to think of Lynn Jr, they would think she was a tough, determined athlete who likes to play rough all the time with anyone she was close with and even those she wasn't, however, what one wouldn't think is that she had a secret love for poetry. After being Lucy's roommate since the little goth was born, the two girls had rubbed off on one another with certain things and for Lynn, that meant she loved poetry.

While she wasn't great at writing it, the young athlete found herself constantly listening to the poets of her grade read aloud. "For tonight, I bid you a final goodnight" finished a raven haired emo girl, her friends soon showing their appreciation for the piece of literature that the usually aloof teen had written.

"Whoa, Mags. That one was..." Lynn started, trying to find the right word to describe her friends' poem.

"Horrendous? Shoddy? A joke on the poetry world?" Maggie said, trying to finish her best friends' statement. Lynn looked at the girl with a blank expression at the words she had chosen to use, which caught Maggie off guard at the unreadable look she was being given.

"Don't be like that. I thought it was actually good, really different from your usual stuff" the brunette said, sending Maggie a warm smile. The other emos in the quiet classroom all giving their own murmurs of agreement but they were all cut off by the sound of the bell ringing, signaling the end of their lunch period which made all of the teens begin to pack up to leave the classroom they had been using in order to get to class. One by one, they all made their way to leave with Maggie and Lynn being the last two in the room.

A moment of silence passed before Lynn spoke, "Standing here won't get us to PE faster, Mimi." The emo girl flinched at the use of the nickname, a nickname her athletic friend had given her when they became friends.

"Stop calling me that."

"Then stop acting like a Mimi"

"That's not a verb. I don't even think that's english" Maggie shot at her, clearly getting upset at Lynn's somewhat childish behavior.

"It's not, it's Hebrew" the athlete stated matter of factly, catching the emo by surprise. In the year that she and Lynn had been friends, the brunette had never shown any knowledge of any other language aside from spanish and yet she somehow knew something in Hebrew.

"You know Hebrew?"

"Nope," Lynn started, popping the 'P' to annoy Maggie but before she could finish the statement, her stomach growled loudly. Blushing lightly, the young athlete chuckled nervously as the emo stared at her, Maggie's usual scowl starting to appear.

"Did you eat lunch?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"Well..."

" _Lynn Loud, The Fourth_." Maggie growled out, clearly angered by the answer but let it go with a deep sigh as she started reaching into her backpack and retrieving a couple of protein bars before saying, "Here."

The short brunette let out a small smile before taking the bars and choosing to snack on them as they left to finally head for the gym. Surprisingly, the two teens made it to their class with enough time to change without having to rush. Closing her locker, Lynn realized she got a text from Lori in the sibling group chat.

Opening her phone, the Loud teen saw that the text was to let everyone know that there was a 'Sibling Meeting' tonight which annoyed her to some degree. While Lynn didn't hate the meetings, mainly due to the fact that she got to play with Lily which always brought a smile to her face. The meetings instead proved to be boring since most of the time it was simply discussing something that wasn't exciting or needed to be known by all the siblings.

" _Piss_. _Off_. _Amanda_." Lynn heard and after closing her phone and shutting her locker, she made her way over to where she knew the voice had come from. Turning the corner, she saw Maggie being cornered by Amanda Evinsmure, the 'Queen of the school', as well as her small entourage and from the looks of the situation, Amanda had cornered Maggie for the third time today and the emo was starting to get pissed by this point.

"Oh come now, Margaret, it was a simple question. No need to get defensive" Amanda said, her usually snarky yet condescending voice ringing off of the lockers.

"I don't have to answer you, now leave."

"Oh you don't? Interesting."

"No, I d-" Maggie began before being stopped by Amanda's hand striking her across the face. Lynn didn't sit still at all from seeing that and whether Maggie could defend herself or not, the Loud girl wasn't gonna stand by and watch someone lay a hand on Maggie like that.

"Hey!" Lynn called out, getting the dirty blondes attention. Upon Amanda turning around, she immediately paled at who she was staring at, and quickly made moves to try and defend herself.

"O-oh! Uh...hey, Lynn-sanity..."

"Cut the shit, Amanda" Lynn spat out, getting the girl to clam up, "Now what have I told you about messing with Maggie?"

"W-wait, I was just asking her an honest question" Amanda stammered out, trying to plead her case.

"Don't care. _Leave. Her. Alone._ Capiche?" Lynn shot at her, taking a menacing step towards her with every word she spoke.

"C-capiche?"

"Good, now get out."

Once the blonde, wannabe bully left the locker room with her entourage in tow. Lynn turned to her emo fiend who was now glaring at her but with a small sheepish grin from the brunette, Maggie just rolled her eyes before finishing getting dressed.

PE for the two went as usual for them, most of the guys either challenging Lynn to a game of basketball or ogling Maggie, who in turn shot menacing glares back at them. Before they knew it, the class was over and the two were getting ready for their next class. Maggie waited patiently for Lynn while the sports girl talked to the couch and after a few minutes, the young teen made her appearance.

"Sup, Mimi" she spoke in her usual energetic tone, earning a scoff and eye roll from the raven haired girl.

"Farty" Maggie replied, causing the athletes expression to drop slightly at the old nickname. Seeing her friends sudden change in demeanor made the usually aloof teen to feel a bit guilty, knowing that she had maybe gone a bit too far. "Sorry..." the emo spoke softly, hoping she didn't hit a nerve too deeply.

"It's...it's cool," Lynn started before shaking her head as if to clear her thoughts before continuing "You wanna come over today? I need your help studying for tomorrow's English test."

"Sure, I'll just let my mom knows to pick me up from your place" Maggie replied, already knowing her mom would be fine with her going over Lynn's house. At her confirmation, Lynn fist pumped in excitement and the two began walking to their classes, the two separating at one point since they had different classes at this time.

The rest of Lynn's school day went by quickly with Algebra having been a snooze for her since she knew she could do the problems with her eyes closed and Band having been incredibly fun since she got to jam out on the drums with the rest of the percussion section. Before she knew it, the last bell of the day had rung and instead of heading to the field like usual, she was making her way towards the front entrance since she didn't have practice today.

Stepping through the doors, Lynn was immediately met with the surprising bite of the Autumn air and quickly regretted not wearing more fitting clothes for the weather but before she could start doing any exercises to warm up, something soft hit her in the face. Pulling the sudden material away from her face, the sports fanatic noticed that it was a purple jumper, a familiar purple jumper.

"Put that on, before you look like an idiot out here" came a familiar voice. Turning around, the youngest Loud teen saw that it was Maggie who had thrown the jumper at her. Lynn took in her friends appearance and noticed that the emo wasn't much better off than she was, with the younger teen wearing long sleeves under her shirt and leggings under her skirt.

"Mags, I think you need this more than I do" Lynn said, extending the warm clothing to her friend. Maggie merely shook her head before reaching into her bag and pulling out a jacket and donning it with ease. The brunette just stared at her with a confused expression before rolling her eyes and pulling the jumper over her head, "Why do you have an extra jacket? And why'd you give me your jumper?" Lynn asked as she finally got the purple cloth comfortably on.

"Because I knew you'd need something warm, since you pretty much always have to get sick before you actually wear warm clothes."

"Then why not give me the jacket?"

"Cause I'm wearing more layers than you so I don't need much more to stay warm" Maggie stated with ease, making Lynn feel a bit embarrassed at how her friend had easily been prepared for her own stupidity.

"Thanks..." Lynn said with a small blush, missing her friends small, yet warm, smile.

Luke was more than happy at the moment and that was putting it lightly. After making it to his job and changing into his uniform, he was met with a cupcake from his coworker, Robin, as well as a hearty pat on the back from Gus.

"Nice to have you back, Luther, I was beginning to think you quit on us" Robin said, her usual bright smile making its appearance on her face. A smile that was admittedly the original reason as to why he first wanted to start working at the arcade but over time the teen found the act of getting to essentially play video games for hours against strangers was more amazing to him.

"Nah, I wouldn't quit without returning all those favors I owe you. A Loud always repays a kind act" Luke replied, giving his own smile towards the older woman.

Robin giggled at that, "My, what a gentleman. Carol's one lucky gal to have you."

"Alright you two, enough flirting. We've got customers to take care of," cut in the voice of Gus, startling the pair of brunettes who in turned jumped away from the elderly man.

"We weren't flirting, Gramps. Robin was just telling me how you guys missed me" Luke said, with Robin nodding in approval. The elderly man in question just rolled his eyes at that before walking back into his office and leaving the two employees to start moving to their stations. Robin grabbing her pad and pen while Luke merely leaned against the display case of toys and candy.

Customers flocked in and out of the arcade, most of them being teens and kids with disgruntled parents but they all still did what was normally done, eating greasy pizza and playing on the arcade cabinets with Luke or Robin having to step in on occasion to warn a teen when they were being too rough with the machines. All was going well until the one thing happened that was always a terrible thing...for Robin.

"Welcome to Gus' Games and Grub! I'm Robin, your server, how may I help you?" Robin cheerfully exclaimed, welcoming the large group of people.

"Hello, Robin. I'm here for the Carmichael party" said a casually dressed African-American woman.

Luke had worked with Robin long enough to know when she was trying not to get visibly distressed and at that moment, he saw her smile twitch for a moment. Robin easily responded to the woman and began to escort her, with her colorful group of adults and children. After sitting them down and taking their drink orders, Robin left the group to enjoy themselves.

As soon as the children were given the go ahead, the older ones were let loose while the infants were kept with their parents. Machine after machine was claimed by the little balls of energy and Luke was happily watching it all happen, the kids reminding him of his own little sisters.

"Um...mister?" came a small, shy voice from somewhere in front of Luke. Looking around for a bit before finally tilting his head downwards, the teen was greeted by the sight of a small, Asian girl who looked to have blue hair.

Luke couldn't help but smile warmingly at the small child, "Yes? How may I help you?"

"Um...may I have one of those aliens?" the girl asked, pointing to the plushies that were hanging behind him. The question, while it wasn't a difficult one, made Luke's smile drop upon the little girl asking.

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but your mommy or daddy have to get you one. I'd get in trouble if I were to give it to you" Luke said evenly, trying his best to make the girl understand without upsetting her. After getting her answer, the little girl dejectedly nodded before starting to walk away but only made it a couple of steps before Luke heard the sobbing.

"Uh oh..." Luke muttered out as the sobbing started to get louder.

Back at the Loud House, things seemed to be abnormally...quiet which was usually a great thing for the neighbors but a large red flag for the family in question.

The children of the house were in their rooms, the exception being Leni who was currently in Luna and Luans' room. The reason for the eerie silence was caused by a small slip up that caused a domino effect throughout the house. A slip up caused by Lisa who had possibly made a mistake that Luke was going to pay the price for.

"Dude, this is so bad. Luke's gonna be so pissed when he gets home" Luna said, pacing back and forth frantically while her two sisters watched and gave their own opinions on the situation.

"Well maybe Lori _does_ only want to talk, she might be okay with Luke and Carol" Luan offered, making no attempt at a joke.

"Don't we have a bigger problem though. Like, 'Carol cheating on Luke' big problem" Leni said, looking between her two little sisters. The two roommates looked at the platinum blonde before sharing a look with each other, Leni was right, how were they gonna tell Luke?

"I talked to her earlier today" Luna began, stopping her pacing for a moment, "She said she would tell him by Friday. If she doesn't, then we'll tell him ourselves."

"How do we know that Lori won't say it when he gets home?" Leni asked, the blonde starting to worry about her little brother.

"I don't think he'd believe her even if she had proof."

"I can't believe we screwed this up for him. I'm such a bad sis, I should've just not said anything" Luna stated, looking down at her boots before feeling two pairs of arms wrap around her. A hand rubbing small circles in her back while another one combed through her short, thick hair. Her two sisters were comforting her as best they could and it was helping alleviate, if only a fraction, the twisted feeling she had in her stomach.

Time passed at a snail's pace for the kids of the Loud family, no one dared to try and leave their rooms. Even Maggie, who was currently holed up in Lynn's room, didn't leave as per her friends pleading and puppy dog eyes. The emo was now having to help between her best friends' English work and her little goth sister, Lucy, with a poem she was writing. The tension in the room was thick and was beginning to get on the raven haired teens nerves, so much so to the point that the emo had finally had enough and spoke up.

"Alright, so what the hell's the problem? Why're you all acting like we're having to hide from a monster or something?" Maggie asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she now looked expectantly at the two Louds who were both sharing a look with each other.

"Uh...well, Mags, remember when I tried to set you up with Bumper over the summer?" Lynn asked, her anxious behaviour not trying to be hidden in the slightest.

"That..." Maggie paused, taking note of the eight year-old in the room, "Creep? Yeah I remember, also remember punching you for lying to me."

"Yeah, well imagine that but like a hundred times worse" Lynn said, not doing much in terms of clearing her friends confusion. Lucy, seeing Maggie's still confused expression, decided to help her older sister out with the explanation in hopes of the emo understanding the situation.

" _Sigh_ , long story short, we all kept a secret from Lori and now we're trying to avoid her as best as we can until our brother gets home from work" the little goth explained simply before quickly adding, "Our brother has been dating Lori's archenemy, Carol, for a long time and...well, you were with us when she found out."

"So you're throwing him under the bus to save your own skins?" Maggie asked in her usual deadpan tone.

"More like waiting for the coming storm to pass" Lynn stated, throwing the raven haired teen for a loop. In the time she's known the sports addict, Maggie has never seen Lynn take the cowards way out of anything but before she could voice her opinion on the matter, the rooms' door was thrown open and in stepped an eerily calm Lori.

"Margaret, would you kindly have your lovely mother pick you up now? My _dear_ brother's almost home and we have a family matter to discuss" The eldest child spoke in a sickeningly sweet tone.

"Uh, sure" Maggie replied, taking her phone out to text her mom but was stopped by Lynn.

"Actually, I can take her home, her mom's probably really busy right now," Lynn said, Maggie took note of Lynn's slight shaking. Lori's piercing blue eyes shifted over to the athlete, locking her gaze with the younger brunettes' own earthy green orbs.

"I said _family_ matter, Lynn, which means you have to be here as well," Lori said offering a small smile. A smile that anyone could tell was not a friendly one in the slightest but it quickly went away when the guest of the house spoke up.

"I wouldn't mind Lynn taking me home, I don't live that far from here to be honest." Lynn couldn't feel happier than right now, Maggie had jumped in to try and help her. The athlete could just kiss her if she knew she wouldn't get hit by the emo.

Lori looked between the two young teens before sighing and stepping to the side, "Very well." The two took their opportunity to leave as fast as they could but not before the blonde spoke again, "Oh, and Lynn, try not to take too long. I would hate to have to give you a repeat of the _discussion_ we're gonna have."

Lynn felt a chill crawl down her spine at that, knowing what Lori meant and knowing that the blonde wasn't just saying it to scare her. Making her way quickly out of the house, the brunette practically dragged her friend down the street before coming to a stop about a block over from the house.

"Alright, what the hell was that, Loud? I've never seen you be scared of anything."

"Mags, you don't get it!" the aforementioned brunette shouted, taking the emo aback as she saw the fearful look in her friends eyes "She's pissed and they're totally gonna fight! I don't want to be caught in that! Not again..."

"Again? Something like this has happened before? Sheesh, your brother must be a hit with the ladies" Maggie said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at her own statement.

"Last time this happened, we had to call the police to break it up."

"Damn..." Maggie muttered in slight surprise, from the few times she's ever met Lynn's older brother, he's never come across as a fighter or aggressive in the slightest "What caused it the first time?"

At that question being asked, Lynn hesitantly told the story of Chet, Lori's first boyfriend and Luke's mortal enemy, as the two began to walk towards Maggies' house.

Back at the Loud House, Lori had made her way down to the living room and was currently sitting on the couch, keeping her gaze on the front door. Time passed and before long, the familiar sound of Lukes' moped could be heard outside and at that, Lori prepared herself. If one were being honest, Lori was moreover hurt at Luke keeping the secret and lying to her than angry at who he was dating. The sound of keys jingling caught her attention and after a couple of tries, the door opened to a clearly tired and irritated Luke.

"Sup, Reina" Luke spoke, calling her by her nickname while smoothing out his hair and hoodie from their disheveled state.

"Welcome home, _Backstabber_ " she replied, making the boy pause to look at her.

"Where'd that come from? And where is everyone? It's a little early for them to be in bed."

"I know about you and Carol" Lori stated flatly, getting right to the point. Immediately, the blonde saw Luke's eyes widen but before he could speak, Lori shot off the couch and made her way over to him. "Don't you _dare_ try to feed me any of your bullshit, Luther Loud!" she spat, grabbing the boy by his hoodie and slamming his into the adjacent wall.

Luke felt the wind get knocked out of him as stared down a rather angry Lori. Regaining his bearings, Luke finally spoke "I don't know what you're talking about, Lori. I wouldn't date Carol, even if she held me at gunpoint! Now let me go so we can talk this out like adults."

"You wouldn't?! Well that's funny since you two seemed to have been having a great time at _El Plátano Loco!_ Or were the others just making that up?!" Lori shouted, yanking her brother before harshly releasing him and causing him to stumble back. Looking over to the stairs, the eldest girl saw that her siblings were all silently watching from the top but before they could scramble away, Lori called for them.

"The eight of you, down here! Now!" she screamed, causing not only the kids to come downstairs but also the parents to leave their room. Once they were all in the living room, Lori fully turned to all of them. "Now then, Luther here tells me that he's not dating Carol" Lori started, pointing harshly at the brunette who was in turn not moving from his spot, "But that's the exact opposite of what you all told me!"

Upon that being said, Luke looked to his siblings who were all wearing some variation of a look of shame. He couldn't believe they had all done such a thing to him but he knew it was his own fault. In retrospect, Luke should've come clean when he had the chance to, so it's his own fault that this was happening.

"We have told you the truth, Eldest Sibling, I still possess the video footage from the night we discovered his secret. Luther is merely trying to cover his own tracks to try and deter your wrath onto us, a common tactic amongst male adolescents around his age range" Lisa said, gaining surprised expressions from the rest of her siblings. The young prodigy looked at the expressions before speaking again, "What? All of you may have made a pact to keep it a secret, but I did no such thing."

Lori turned back to her brother, not needing to hear anymore from her siblings, "So you're still trying to lie to me?!" she screeched before lunging for her brother with a surprising amount of agility but the younger teen dodged out of the way, his desire for trying to talk still being prominent. Getting back up from where she collapsed on the ground, Lori set her sights on Luke again and made for a rush like a charging bull.

"Lori, please stop! We can talk about this!" Luke shouted, holding his hands up in an attempt to calm the angry teen. Not trying to dodge this time, the boy was tackled to the ground with Lori straddling his chest as to keep him from moving right before cocking her fist back and sending it flying forward towards his face. With instinct taking over, Luke moved his head out of the way and caused Lori to punch the floor at full strength.

Retracting her aching fist immediately, Lori threw the other one towards where Luke had moved his head but the boy merely moved it to the other side, causing the teen to collide with the floor again. Frustrated at not being able to hit him, the blonde grabbed Luke's throat to keep his head still.

Looking towards his family, Luke saw the other members all looking on in shock "All of you, upstairs!" he barked, causing his parents to immediately jump into action and escort his siblings up the stairs. Rita gave her son a small look of concern as she saw him still pinned under her eldest daughter, wanting to keep her word but knowing that Luke was trying to fix this on his own without any help.

Lori, now even more furious than before, threw a punch and was satisfied when it connected. Being consumed by her anger, the blonde teen began to lay into her brother who in turn was trying to buck her off since he couldn't use his hands to free himself. With a few more bucks and wiggles, Luke was able to free one of his arms and used the slight freedom to grab a fistful of Lori's hair before throwing her head forward and brought his head up to meet her nose.

Upon the collision, the blonde quickly toppled off her brother, clutching her now bleeding nose, and onto the floor. Using this advantage, Luke scrambled away as he now tried to get to his feet, his head a bit foggy due to Lori's barrage. "Now listen to me!" he shouted towards the writhing blonde, "I kept this all a secret so something like this _wouldn't_ happen, Lorraine!"

"Screw you, you little shit!" Lori screamed through her hands as she continued to clutch her nose before rolling onto her stomach, the blonde began to get up from the ground. Getting onto her feet, she removed her hands and revealed the bleed orifice before she spoke again, "You didn't tell me because you're a coward! You're probably only dating her cause you knew it'd piss me off when I found out!"

"That's not it! I didn't tell you cause you would've ruined my relationship!"

"Oh?! Like how you ruined mine?! You're such a damn hypocrite!"

Luke paused at that, a few memories dredging up from three years ago. The tail end of Lori's 'Awkward Stage' as well as Luke's 'Bullying Stage' when the two siblings were starting to get along for the first time. Chet, an older kid that Luke had tormented because of a weight problem the older boy had, started to date Lori and while everyone was happy about it, Luke felt as though it was a waking nightmare. The two young teens were practically inseparable while they were a couple and that was something Luke detested severely. At first the tween tried to sway Chet towards other girls but when that didn't work, the brunette got desperate.

Luke had only recently broken ties with Darrell and the others, they hadn't wanted anything to do with him at first but he offered them a deal. They help him 'convince' Chet to break things off with Lori and he'd owe them one favor each to which they agreed. Once the act had been carried out, the three former friends had cashed in on their favors and made Luke take the fall for them.

Inevitably, Chet broke things off with the blonde and left Royal Woods, leaving behind a broken hearted Lori. Luke remembered everything that day and that only made him realize that he was a hypocrite, he didn't want Lori to do to him what he had done to her.

Looking at the furious blonde, the brunette spoke "I wasn't trying to be a hypocrite. I-I'm sorry, Lori."

Lori kept her glare on him and without a word, she rushed forward. Pinning the boy to the wall, the blonde now having her rage fueled further by her brothers pisspoor excuse. Delivering blow after blow, the eldest Loud daughter refrained from letting up on her brother and only doing so when her seething rage had cooled a bit. Releasing her hold on Luke, she watched as he collapsed into a heap on the ground at her feet.

Kneeling down, Lori grabbed a fistful of Luke's hair and brought his face up to meet her own. "Break it off with her. _Now_ " she spat as she glared into his eyes, noticing how he was fading.

"N-no."

" _What?_ "

"I...said no" Luke wheezed out but was slapped across the face in response, making his head spin more than it already was.

"Do what I say, Luther, or I'll do it for you."

"Stay a-away from...her."

"Why? Wanna try to save your shit relationship, when she'd better off with someone who isn't a backstabbing coward?" Lori spat out before letting go of his hair. Standing back up, and giving one more hard kick to his stomach, the blonde started to make her way up the stairs.

Lynn Jr wasn't sure what she was expecting when she got home but one thing was certain, she wasn't expecting the house to look as in order as it was when she walked through the front door. Greeting her when she got home were her parents who were tending the wounds of a barely conscious Luke. Once she shut the door, her dad turned to look at her but after remembering that Lucy told him that Lynn had walked Maggie home, he turned back to his son.

Making her way over, Lynn noticed her brothers hoodie laying on the couch with what looked to be dark droplets peppering it. "What happened?" she asked dumbly, already knowing the answer.

"Lori and Luke had a...misunderstanding" Rita answered her daughter, not wanting to look away from her currently injured son. After finishing up with the treatment, the Loud Matriarch took her sons' head in her hands and gave it a small once over before wincing slightly. "I think we should take him to Steve, honey. It'd do him some good to be looked over by a doctor" Rita said, turning to her husband.

"And it'd do the family good if we kept them apart from each other for a while until Lori cools off" the Patriarch said in agreement before grabbing his keys and escorting his son to the family van.

The car ride was quiet at first before it was broken by Luke, surprisingly, who asked "Is she right?"

"Is who right, Lu?"

"Lori. Is she right? Am I a backstabbing coward? Would Carol actually be better off without me? "

Lynn gripped the steering wheel a bit at that. The family had heard what Lori had said to Luke before their 'fight' ended and the parents knew how it would affect their oldest son. While Luke typically never lets anything go to his head easily, Lynn and Rita knew that things that came from siblings were the things that easily got to their son. At first they merely thought it was because they were family but they grew to realize that it was more than that.

Their two sons were similar in the sense that if their sisters needed help, then they'd gladly volunteer. Where they differ however, is while Lincoln was a fun-loving and friendly kid, Luke wasn't and therefore was never asked often.

"No, Luther, she wasn't right" Lynn responded simply.

"Then why did I hide Carol from you all? Why wasn't I upfront about it? Why...?" Luke paused to choke back a sob, a sound that made Lynn's heart ache, it was incredibly rare for the oldest boy to show any vulnerability in the slightest, "Just when I was starting to have my big sister back, I just had to...to...screw it all up again!" Luke screamed, punching his thigh in anger. Lynn didn't say anything the entire time, choosing to let his son vent.

After his outburst however, Luke had decided to quiet down and merely try to choke down his sobs and whimpers as he let Lori's words swim around his head. The ride settled into an uneasy silence before the van finally pulled into a familiar parking lot. Lynn shut off the engine before quickly getting out of the ancient vehicle, leaving Luke to sit inside it for a short while.

Moments passed before the passenger door was thrown open and Luke was pulled from the vehicle and into the warm yet strong arms of someone, looking up through clothing as well as his own wet eyelashes, the eldest boy was met by the warm smile of one Olivia Thomas, the Matriarch of the Thomas Family.

 _ **Aaaaaand that wraps Chapter 8 for you guys. Wild ride, right? Probably, for some. Anyways, as I said before, this took awhile due to the fact that there was a bundle of things I was trying to decide if I should even try to put it in this chapter or keep you all waiting a bit. A chapter however, isn't the only thing I bring to you lot though. For those of you who are artists, I bring you the gift of a drawing of Luke himself. While I'm not expecting anything, I figured I'd give you guys something to have your own personal fun with. Just make sure to use the drawing responsibly (Or irresponsibly, I don't care). The drawing with be on tumblr, just look for it under the tag #NotSoLoud, so keep an eye out for that and until then, stay tuned readers!**_


	9. A Decision Was Made

Not So Loud...

 _ **Hey Readers, Welcome back for another installment of Not So Loud..., today's chapter is gonna be jam packed so I hope you all like it. So, Without further ado, Enjoy!**_

A Decision Was Made.

The night of the incident seemed to be the only bad time Luke had since his suspension. Granted, he was having to get used to sharing living quarters with his best friend and her family but that didn't make his week any less better. Since he was suspended though, he had to have QT get his homework from his sisters which was...eventful, to say the least.

Though if he were being honest, the eldest Loud boy was more concerned about Carol than anything. Since he was suspended, then he couldn't be there to protect her from Lori and it was bothering him especially since the older teen seemed to always be busy whenever the boy texted or called her. Chalking it up to her just being busy with getting college essays and the like done, Luke wasn't entirely bothered by the lack of communication.

He kept himself occupied however, such as right now as he was currently conquering a customer who was trying to impress his friends and his girlfriend. The group of college kids were huddled around the dancing machine as they tried to cheer their friend on while he tried to keep up with Luke's moves.

"C'mon Bolin, beat this guy!" cried the tomboyish brunette, the only one of the friends who seemed to be incredibly audible when cheering her friend on. To the brunettes left was her girlfriend who seemed to just be taking joy in seeming her spouse and friend having fun while the guy on the brunettes right, who was Bolin's brother, seemed to have better things to do.

After a few more moments of the two going head to head, with Luke putting his own flare into his moves, the final song ended and the two stopped. Luke placed his hat back on his head before sending a sly grin at Bolin.

"That's the end of The Gauntlet, my friend" Luke stated, not dropping his sly grin at all. Bolin, while not looking too winded himself, deflated at Luke comment.

"Ah, man. I was really hoping to get that stuffed bear though."

"Sorry, dude, better luck next time" Luke said with a shrug as he made his way back to his post at the Prize Counter. The college students all began to make their way out of the arcade with Bolin being consoled by his girlfriend who was rubbing his back and cooing at him. "Another chump taken to the cleaners" Luke muttered out, stretching to get the kinks out of his shoulders and back.

"You could've gone easy on the big guy." Robin stated, walking up to the counter as she removed her hat, signaling that it was quitting time.

"I _could've_ but where's the fun in that?" Luke stated, following Robin into the Employee Lounge as the brunette chuckled at his comment. Once the two were inside, the older of the two slid into a chair as a defeated sigh escaped her lips. The younger brunette simply casting a look over to his coworkers direction as her usual smile had disappeared.

"Rough day for you?" Luke asked gently, trying to start a conversation with the woman.

"No, just some family stuff I have to deal with when I get home" Robin replied as she sat up in her chair. This caught the teens attention as he had never seen or heard the older woman talk about her family life before.

"What's wrong? If you don't mind my asking."

"I'd rather not say...at least not until I know all the details."

"That's fair...just keep me posted if you need someone to talk to." Robin smiled at Lukes' statement, the teen showing his caring nature to her. Something she always appreciated from him.

"I will, thanks" The older employee stated before rising from her seat and stretching, "I'll go get changed first."

"Alright, let me know when you're done." Robin nodded at that before leaving to change while Luke merely pulled his phone out and started reading _The Mobsters' Remorse_ , a romance novel and a guilty pleasure that the teen had. Something that no one in his family knew about, hence why he never bought the physical book despite loving the feel of turning book pages. Time passed for the teen with quite a few pages being read and reread, Luke absorbing all of what was beautifully written.

"I think she's only with him for the security."

"GAH!" Luke yelped out, quickly locking his phone and spinning around, only to see Robin bent over from where she was reading over his shoulder. "Robin?! What the hell?!" the teen squawked out at his coworker.

"Sorry, sorry. You just seemed super into what you were reading, I had to see for myself."

"How long were you there?"

"A few minutes. I won't tell anyone though, I can tell by your reaction that you don't want anyone to know." At that statement, Luke just nodded meekly before pushing passed his coworker. Robin couldn't help but notice the young teens red cheeks as he made his way out and into the locker room.

After a quick change into his street clothes, Luke went with Robin to Gus' office to let him know they were leaving. Getting the go ahead, the two made their way into the parking lot but Luke stopped short once he saw someone waiting for him.

Carol.

To say that Lori was expecting to see QT sitting in the living room with a duffel bag at her feet would be a lie. The tall, shapely brunette turned towards the older blonde and sent a death glare towards her but didn't utter a word.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Lori spat, not at all in the mood for the brunette that had given her a black eye earlier in the week. The eldest blonde not only had to deal with having to wear more makeup to cover it up but she also had to deal with her little siblings avoiding her all week. To say the least, Lori was a little down in the dumps over it all. The only silver lining being that because QT had beaten up Lori, the Loud parents didn't deem it necessary to ground their daughter for what she had done, given she was already being punished in a sense.

" _I'm_ here to make sure _you_ don't try anything on Luke" the brunette responded, folding her arms over her chest over letting out a 'Hmph' as she snapped her head away. If Lori were being honest, she wasn't planning on doing anything violent to Luke once he got back, at most she was gonna try to apologize for how she reacted at the beginning of the week. After having time to think about all of what happened, the blonde felt disgusted at what she had done, although she did feel in the right for being upset.

Lori spent most of the time thinking of a way to apologize to her little brother but still express how hurt she was over his deception. With a nod, the blonde made her way into the kitchen to grab a glass of water while she waited for the eldest boy. Minutes passed and soon those minutes gathered into an hour but Luke had yet made his appearance. Soon QT made her way into the dining room where Lori sat.

"When does he usually get home?" she asked, concern starting to creep into her voice.

"He's usually home by now. Have you tried his cell?" Lori retorted, her own worry evident in her tone.

"I did, three times, and it went straight to voicemail each time."

"That's...odd. Maybe I sho-" Lori began but was cut off when the front door opened and the topic of conversation walked in. Since it had been the first time Lori had seen her brother all week, she was easily taken aback by the fact that he had hit a small growth spurt, now making him roughly the same height as Leni and not only that, the blonde noticed how her brother now had a bit of five o' clock shadow coming in, which was surprising to say the least.

"Oh, hey! Sorry I'm so late, got a little caught up" Luke stated as he closed the front door. Making his way over to the two taller teens, noticing Lori's confused expression which halted his approach. "What?" he asked, clear confusion in his voice as he stared at the teen.

Without saying a word, Lori made her way over to her brother, putting QT on edge slightly. Once in front of her little brother however, the blonde took his cheeks into her hands and ran her thumbs over them. The prickly feeling on her hand was making it very clear that it wasn't makeup on her brother, but actual hair.

"Your cheeks are so fuzzy now" Lori stated in a bewildered tone, rubbing Luke's face more. The younger teen was a bit confused by his sisters behavior since he had never seen Lori stating the obvious like how she was now.

"Uh...thanks? I forgot to tell Pa to bring my razor and didn't really bother to ask any of the Thomas' for one" Luke said, rubbing the back of his head nervously as Lori continued to rub his face. This continued for a bit before a new sound broke it up. The sound of a dozen feet rushing towards the dining room.

Several voices were clambering on top of one another, questions being asked left and right. Luke hadn't even turned around yet to address the voices but instead he looked to his friend who understood what he was asking. Placing her index and thumb into her mouth, QT let out a loud whistle that immediately quieted the voices.

Removing Lori's hands from his cheeks, Luke spun around and took in the sight of his family. Looking over everyone, he noticed their looks of confusion and concern and decided to play this in an orderly fashion.

"Raise your hands and wait to be called on. One question at a time, please" Luke said calmly as he looked over everyone. Almost immediately, everyone's hands went up and after looking them all over, he picked someone.

"Yes, Lola?"

"Why's your face all fuzzy?" The princess asked, her head tilting slightly in confusion.

"Because I haven't shaved it in a while" Luke stated calmly. "Lana?"

"Can I feel it?"

Luke sighed a bit before smiling and kneeling down. The little tomboy took that as her que and rushed over, rubbing her small hands over the prickly face of her brother. After some time, and a bit of giggling from Lana, the tomboy let go and allowed Luke to stand up again.

"Yes, Leni?"

"Did you get taller, Lukey?" That question actually made the boy pause and look at himself a bit. In all honesty, he hadn't noticed since everyone in the Thomas house, save for Renee, was incredibly tall.

"I believe I can answer that" came the voice of the genius tot, Lisa. Stepping forward, the little prodigy pulled something from her pocket and pointed it at Luke's feet before raising it to his knees. "I require your assistance, Eldest brother" she said easily, causing Luke to pick her up. As Lisa was brought up, she continued to track up his body before finally resting the device onto the teens head. After a few moments, the item beeped and Lisa spoke "I can confirm that our brother has gained a rough total of 10.16 cm of height, therefore making him around the height of our second eldest sister, Leni."

The answered got a wide range of reactions at that, some were shocked and others were impressed. Luke himself was even nodding in agreement to the new information. After setting the tiny genius down on the ground, the eldest boy looked to the rest of his family to see if they had anymore questions for him before something reminded him.

"Oh yeah! Ma, Pa, still need me for game night tonight?" Luke asked, his full attention on his parents as the two looked confused before realization dawned on them.

"Only if you're up for it, Honey" came the reply from his mother, Lynn Sr merely nodding along to his wife. The first born son didn't need any time to think on it as he gave a confident nod, which brought a smile to their faces. "Alright then, we'll get ready and be on our way" Rita stated, she and her husband leaving the room to do as was said.

Once they were gone, Luke then turned to his best friend and spoke to her as his other sisters, save for Lori, left the room to go back to their normal activities. "So, how long are you gonna be here?" he asked curiously to the brunette.

"I had planned to spend the weekend here. I mean, you already were at my place for a week, it only seemed fair" QT replied with a small shrug and smile, earning a grin from the boy.

"Sweet!" Luke stated excitedly, fist pumping the air slightly at the news.

"Yeah, and I brought my laptop so we can finally do that dungeon crawl!" The two gamer teens only seemed to use that to kick off their babbling about the games they were already planning on playing together. Lori merely stood there before finally speaking, grabbing her brothers attention.

"Hey, Luke?"

The boy in question paused to turn towards the blonde, his grin not fading in the slightest as he stared at her. "Oh hey! What's up, Reina? Forgot you were still here. My bad."

Lori bristled slightly at her nickname, feeling as though she didn't deserve it, before speaking again, "Can I talk to you? In private?"

"Sure" Luke said before turning to QT, who took the hint and made her way out of the room, sending the older blonde a dirty look before leaving. Luke turned back to Lori before gesturing towards the backdoor, Lori took the hint and followed her brother into the backyard. "What'd you wanna talk to me about?" the younger teen asked once the backdoor had been closed.

"Well...it's about Monday. I just wanna say that I'm sorry for how I acted, it was _literally_ the most childish way I could've reacted to that. So...I'm sorry" Lori said, getting the first half of what she wanted to say out in a single breath. She took a deep breath to steady herself before going to continue but was cut off by Luke's sudden statement.

"I deserved it."

The words on Lori's tongue died immediately at that. She had been expecting an argument or even Luke just awkwardly accepting the apology, but _that_? That was unexpected to her. "Wh-what do you mean?" Lori asked, clearly confused by the reply.

"I mean that I deserved what I got. Heck, I deserved worse for lying for so long. Being honest, I should be thanking you for going easy on me."

Now _that_ was worrisome to Lori. The boy just stood next to her, still smiling as though they were talking about the weather and he had just said all of that so calmly. If she were being truthful, this kind of behavior was unnerving to the blonde. Lori swallowed a wad of saliva that had collected in her mouth before deciding to speak again, "Uh...Luke? Is...are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know, you just seem...happy? Like I mean, I would think you'd be angry at me or something. Right now though, you seem weirdly upbeat."

"Pft, you kidding? My week's been great, I mean aside from the obvious stuff that happened. Heck, the only weird thing that happened was QT forgetting that I was in her room when she was getting ready for school on Tuesday."

"Ah...well, that's good. So, how've things been between you and... _Carol_?" Lori asked, gagging through the name for the sake of trying to steer the conversation back towards what she wanted to talk about. The moment she uttered the name however, Lori saw something that added to the growing pile of worry. Luke's expression twitched for a moment, his smile looked strained and his eyes looked a bit glassy but just as quickly as it happened, it switched back.

"We're great! She and I actually met up for a quick dinner date when I got off work earlier. That's why I was late getting in. My bad, if you guys worried about that, by the way."

"Luke! We're ready!" called Rita, making the teen spin on his heel and make his way inside, sending Lori one more bright smile before disappearing inside. A few moments later, Vanzilla started up and drove away with the three Louds in it. A few more moments passed before Lori came back inside, now mulling over all of what happened with her brother just now.

Once she entered the living room, she looked around and noticed all of her siblings were waiting on her with bated breath. Even QT, who had taken the time to put her duffel bag upstairs, was now sitting in the chair with Lily sitting in her lap.

"How'd the talk go?" QT asked calmly, wanting to make sure her friend and his sister were somewhat okay.

" _Literally_ weird. It was like something out of _The Gloomy Sector_." At that, several questions erupted, all of which were confused tones but not all of them were about the subject at hand.

"You watch _Gloomy Sector_?!" Lincoln asked in shock. Several sets of eyes immediately glared at him.

"Not the point, Linc!" Lynn shouted, making the white haired boy raise his hands in surrender.

"What do you mean 'weird'?" Lana asked, a bit worried for her brother.

"He just seemed...okay with what happened. He even said 'he deserved it'" Lori replied, causing the other occupants of the room to grow more worried.

"Did any of his behavior seem rather peculiar compared to how he normally behaves after an argument?" Lisa asked, her mind already working in trying to figure this out.

"I mean...all of it seemed off. Most weird though was that he was so...so...what's the word? Like at peace with everything."

"Content."

"That's _literally_ it! Thanks, Lis"

"That wasn't me" the tiny prodigy stated. All heads turned towards the direction of the voice, an unusually meek Luna.

"Do you know something, Luna?" QT asked, perturbed by the rockers peculiar behavior.

"I...I need to make a call real quick, dudes. Just gotta check something real quick" The brunette rocker stated, getting off the couch and quickly making her way over to the door and stepping onto the porch, closing it behind her. Pulling her phone out, the older twin scrolled through her contacts before finding who she needed to talk to. Tapping the call button, she waited for the call to connect and after the fourth ring, it did.

"Carol?"

" _L-Luna?_ " came a hoarse voice on the other end.

"Did you..." Luna paused to gather herself a bit before continuing, "Did you tell him today?"

There was a pregnant pause before a reply came, " _No, I've just been crying for an hour because I saw some cute shoes on sale_ " Carol stated, sarcasm heavily evident in her voice. Luna clenched her phone tightly at that response but chose not to act on her frustration at the blonde.

"Then why the hell is Luke acting like he just won a cruise or something?" The rocker asked through gritted teeth.

" _W-what? What do you mean? What's wrong with him? Is Lukey okay?!_ "

"Okay, first, don't call him that. Second, I don't know what's wrong, that's why I'm asking you" Luna stated and after a few moments of silence, Carol told her everything that happened when the two had talked.

A couple of minutes passed before the rocker made her way inside, her expression a bit grim but somewhat understanding. The other occupants of the room looked at her, all of them waiting for the news of whatever Luna had found out. The young teen sighed heavily before running a hand down her face in frustration.

"They broke up..." came Luna's sudden reply, causing everyones' jaws to drop in shock at the news. There was nothing but silence for a while but soon, someone spoke.

"But...why? They were doing so well together. They had just admitted to loving each other!" came the sudden voice of QT, distress starting to hang onto her voice as she looked around the room and noticed everyone's solemn expressions. It took a moment for it all to finally click for the shapely brunette. "You all knew this would happen?" she asked, her distress slowly turning to anger.

"Not this soon" Leni stated glumly, the others seemingly agreeing with her except Luna.

"Actually, dudes...I knew this would happen." Everyone's eyes turned to the rocker in that moment.

"What do you mean by that?" QT asked, slowly rising from her seat and handing Lily off to Luan.

"I mean...I may have... _forced_ Carol to break up with Luke."

"You what?!" cried QT as her hands quickly balled into fists at her sides, her arms beginning to shake with fury.

"I only did it cause I was looking out for Luke!" Luna stated, defending her actions. QT merely started walking towards the brunette slowly and menacingly.

"And why were you looking out for him? What aren't you all telling me?" QT asked, easily closing the distance between herself and Luna. The anglophile now stared up at the furious brunette that looked ready to knock her lights out but before she could explain herself, someone else said it.

"Carol's been dating a guy named Adam the whole time. Luke was just her side piece" Luan cut in suddenly. Silence once again engulfed the room at the admittance, those in the room who didn't know all the details were shocked and those who did were too ashamed to speak. QT was amongst those in shock as she scanned the room and noticed distinctly who all shared looks of shame.

Luna was amongst the shameful ones as she tried to move past the shocked brunette. The Non-Loud of the pair noticed this and easily grabbed the front of the rockers shirt, holding her in her place. "Does Luke know this? Or did you keep quiet about it?" QT asked spat quietly, her rage palpable enough to put Lola to shame.

The two brunettes began to have an impromptu staring contest as the question hung in the air. The staring continued for what felt like hours before Luna finally spoke, "No...he doesn't know."

No sooner had the words lift her mouth that the room was filled with what sounded like the crack of a bullwhip as Luna fell to the ground, her cheek glowing a angrily bright red. Noone dared to move in that instant, shocked at what had just happened before them. The rocker clutched her burning cheek as she looked up to at a seething brunette, QT's breathing slowly becoming ragged as she glared down at the rocker but without so much as a word uttered, she turned on her heel and quickly started to go up the stairs and into the boy's shared room.

Once the upstairs door had slammed shut, everyone sprung into action and went to help the downed sibling. Seeing their approach, Luna held up her hand to stop them before climbing to her feet and moving towards the kitchen for an ice pack. "I'm fine, dudes, just need to ice my face a bit" Luna said solemnly, leaving her siblings in the living room.

"Yuna?" Lily asked, looking up at Luan with a sad expression on her face, tears welling up in her eyes.

The comedienne in kind just gave the infant a warm smile before replying, "She'll be fine, sweetie. Just has an ouchie but she's okay" she cooed, making the infant nod glumly to show that she understood.

Time passed at a snail's pace for the Loud kids as they all tried to go about their usual activities but with a distinct lack of energy as they did so. The only exceptions being Lincoln, who's room had been locked by an angry QT, and Lori, who was currently seeing what she could make for her siblings for dinner or if she could cut her losses and order a pizza for them. The atmosphere had visibly become tense and didn't seem to be getting better at any time.

Soon however, without prompting, the front door was thrown open and someone, carrying an arms fill of bags, walked in. Slamming the door closed and quickly making their way to the dining room, impressing the Louds with how easy they were navigating without sight, before plopping the bags down. Luke had made his return to the house and the smell of Chinese food began to fill the air, making everyone's mouths water. The eldest boy seemed to take a moment to count the bags and once satisfied, he smiled to himself.

"Luke's back!" cried Lana as she ran to her eldest brother, the other siblings joining her as all the younger siblings seemed to swarm him while the teens hung around loosely. A certain blonde noticed something off however, a distinct lack of parents with her little brother.

"Where's Mom and Dad?" Asked Lori, the others now noticing their missing parental figures.

"At a hotel. They had a bit too much 'Grown-up Juice' at the game night" Luke stated simply, not wanting the little one's asking too many questions. Lori, as well as the other teens in the room for that matter, understood what he meant so she quickly changed the subject.

"So I'm guessing that's our dinner?" she asked, pointing to the bags on the table.

"Yep! Got you all your usuals too. Though I did mix it up a bit and got some sweet treats for everyone."

That seemed to have gotten rid of what little tension remained in the air as all the little ones seemed to enjoy the idea of getting dessert. Everyone soon set out to go wash their hands, leaving Luke to get his friend who he had assumed was in his room since he could tell she wasn't downstairs or she would've come running at the mention of food in general. Making his way up the stairs and towards his door, the eldest boy was surprised by it being locked. Looking over his shoulder to check if anyone was close to him, Luke pulled a bobby pin from his hair and, using the skills he learned from Leni over the summer, picked the lock to his room.

Upon the door being opened, the brunette was met by the heart breaking sight of his best friend muffling her sobs into his pillow. Slipping inside, Luke closed the door behind him and relocked it, grabbing QT's attention almost instantly. The teen girl shot up almost immediately and snapped her head in the direction of the door, revealing that she had in fact been crying. Her usual immaculate makeup having smeared and run down her cheeks alongside her tears but her expression looked less like one of despair and one more resembling fury.

The angry beauty's expression changed quickly once she noticed it was her friend and not his twin. With a sigh, the male brunette made his way over to his friend and sat in his computer chair before speaking, "I take it that you found out?"

QT was surprised by that, expecting her friend to try and figure out her problem but instead, he seemed to already know the answer. Sitting up a bit straighter and rubbing her eyes, she spoke "Y-yeah. How're you holding up, dude?"

"I should be asking you that. You okay, Isabelle? It's not everyday that I get to see my best friend crying from something that wasn't a drama film."

"I'm fine, Lu, just...I don't know. Angry, I guess" the girl stated with a shrug, looking down to her hands in her lap.

"I understand, though I don't understand why you're sulking up here. It's not like something similar hasn't happened to me before."

"Last time, your sister didn't make Nicky break up with you!" QT snapped, glaring at Luke.

"True, true, however, had Luna not done that then I would've still been dating Carol. And with how head over heels I am for her, who knows how long that would've gone on for. Hell, I'm pretty sure I would've lost Lori at some point from dating her, not to mention the fact that I could've ended up attacking Adam if I found out later than I did." The shapley brunette looked at her friend in surprise, she saw it with ease now with his words. The hurt that Luke was trying so desperately to choke down as to not fall apart, to not let his strong willed and unflappable facade break.

"Luther..." QT whispered out, reaching out and pulling the eldest Loud boy into a hug, to which he easily returned it. A moment passed between them as they embraced before Luke broke it to speak.

"I think that's enough of that. We need to get down there and eat before they all get impatient." That seemed to bring a small giggle from the girl as she rubbed her eyes again, clearing more of her ruined makeup from her face. Exiting the room, and getting cleaned up, the two friends made their way into the dining room where all the conversations quickly ceased. Luke easily walked his way over to where he usually sat while QT sat where Rita usually did.

"Sorry about the wait, let's eat!" Luke declared with a bright smile, Lana wasily wasted no time in pigging out on her food with the others soon following. The usual jovial energy came back swiftly, albeit more tense than before. Soon plates were empty and the kids of the group were eagerly waiting for their promised desserts.

"QT, Luna, how about you two get the desserts for everyone while I clean the plates." Luke said, making his way into the kitchen with the two teens following him tensely. Once inside and a bit away from prying eyes and ears, QT spoke first.

"Luna, I'm sorry, about the whole hitting you thing. It was a terrible thing for me to do."

"Nah, dude, I'm sorry. I kept you out of the loop with what was going on with Carol, you should've been the first person I told." The two stared at each other awkwardly for a bit before Luna extended her fist with hesitance, "We still cool?"

QT easily bumped her fist to Luna's with a small smile, "Yeah...we're still cool," she said before adding teasingly, " _Moonpie._ "

The rocker laughed a bit at the teasing before adding her own barb, "Glad to hear it, _Honey Bee._ " At that, the two shared a laugh and the rest of the night slowly became its usual chaotic nature. Individual conversations were had while they all ate and, without warning, Lori asked Luke a question that got everyone's attention.

"Luke, how'd you get home? You said Mom and Dad were at a hotel."

The brunette didn't need to look up from his food at he answered in a matter of fact tone, "I drove." That answered seemed to shock everyone at the table and soon Luke was bombarded with more questions, almost all of the consisting of ride requests to certain place but the rest of them were more over lecturing from Lori who was asking safety questions to make sure her little brother was okay. Needless to say, Luke didn't hear the end of it for the rest of the night from the concerned blonde.

Early morning the next day, after some of the little ones woke up to have their usual routine of watching Saturday morning cartoons with their eldest brother, there was a knock at the door. Getting up from the couch with Lily clutched safely in his arms, Luke opened up and was surprised to see an unexpected familiar face. Mayor Yvette Davis, standing on the porch with her usual warm smile.

"Uh...Mayor Davis? What're you doing here? Is there something I can help you with?" Luke asked, clearly confused by the woman's sudden appearance, Lily easily waving at the woman cheerfully.

After waving back at the infant, she spoke, "Actually there is Luther, I need your help. Or more specifically, the Events Coordinator needs your help."

"Huh? Why would Henry need me? I thought he hated me."

"Sweetie, Henry retired this past summer, our new Coordinator, however, asked for you specifically."

"New Coordinator? How would they know me?" Luke asked before a new voice answered, one he hadn't heard in years.

"Because I used to babysit you...Twerp" came the new voice, a tall, young woman with red hair and pink eyes.

Luke took in the new woman's appearance before the pieces finally clicked for the brunette and his expression shifted from confusion to indifference, "Oh...it's you. How've you been, Vicky?"

 _ **And thus wraps another chapter, a couple of things that I've been sitting on for a while have finally been brought out and I hope you all like it, I enjoyed planning them. Now what could the new Councilwoman want with Luke? Well you'll have to find out in the next chapter, but until then, Stay Tuned Readers!**_


	10. A Blast From The Past

Not So Loud...

 _ **Hey Readers, its that time again, another installment of Not So Loud for you all. Now, before we get started, I want to address a review left by one DarkSlayer7799. To answer your question; Yes, some other characters such as Bolin and his friends, Vicky, or the Carmichael party, are all characters from other Nick shows. Paying close attention, more will make cameos in the story so be on the lookout. Now without further ado, Enjoy!**_

 _A Blast From The Past._

"Aw, what's the matter? Can't a gal swing by a see how her prodigy is doing?" Vicky asked, casually shrugging her shoulders as she made her way into the house, Luke stepping to the side to let her in.

"Oh! You two know each other already then? I guess there's no need for introductions!" stated Mayor Davis as she clapped her hands excitedly. Lily easily following suit as she giggled, melting the womans' heart. Luke easily leveled his gaze at Vicky as she began to survey the living room, he took note of the redheads office wear as well as her hair being pulled into a bun, a far cry from her original appearance. The redheads sight soon set on the four little girls on the couch.

A slight gasp escaped the woman before something unexpected happened, the tyrannical woman known as Vicky, squeed in excitement. Rushing over, the redhead easily picked up Lola and began nuzzling her face, much to the small blondes chagrin. "Oh my gosh, you've all gotten so big!" Vicky exclaimed, setting Lola down and looking from the twins to Lisa and landing on Lucy, who in turn dove off the couch and jumped into the young woman's arms, a bright smile on her usual frowning face.

"Vicky!" Lucy exclaimed, being spun around by the woman, much to the shock of her little sisters. The three girls not believing what they were seeing, their usually gloomy sister was smiling and speaking like a normal eight year old would.

"How's my little Duchess been? Still doing your poems?"

"Yeah! I've even got a notebook to put them in!" Lucy excitedly stated, subconsciously moving her bangs a bit to look up at her old babysitter, her bright blue eye being revealed to the world. Before Vicky could respond however, Luke cleared his throat and got their attention.

"What are you here for, Vicky?" he asked evenly, his tone showing his irritation. The aforementioned woman caught onto his tone and immediately separated from the raven haired girl and gestured to the dining room. With a nod, Luke handed Lily to the little goth before following.

Once the two sat down, the redhead spoke evenly, "Luther, I need your help."

"I gathered that much from Yvette. What could _I_ possibly help _you_ with?"

Vicky flinched slightly, unnoticeably, at his tone, remembering the last conversation they had. "Luther, I don't want to fight with you. I need your help with this years' House of Terrors, it's my first year doing it and I need someone who was as...sinister...as I used to be to help" Vicky stated, hesitating at her slight word choice, taking note of Luke's sour expression.

A few minutes seemed to pass with the two staring each other down before Luke sighed heavily and spoke, "Alright...I'll help, just send me the plans for what you have so far and I'll see where my expertise is needed" He said before glaring at the redhead, "You better pay me for this or something."

"Of course, I didn't expect you to do something this grand for free" Vicky stated, smiling slightly at the boy before speaking again, "Now that business is out of the way however, how about we catch up a bit."

"Ugh...I guess."

"Cool...so...uh, how old are you now?" Vicky asked awkwardly.

"Fifteen...turning sixteen in November."

"Ah, so you're a sophomore in highschool then?"

"Senior" Luke stated bluntly, catching the woman off guard at the fact, "I skipped some grades" he clarified. Before long, however, the two began to launch into a decent conversation, eventually having it interrupted by the squeeing of the teen sisters who had woken up and saw their beloved babysitter sitting at the table. They proceeded to then talk to the young redhead, much to Luke's relief.

Before anyone realized however, the redhead had to leave with the Mayor so that she could get started on the planning. Thus began a very long and tedious few weeks of Luke having to balance between work, school, and now helping Vicky plan.

The weeks soon slowed, the planning was soon finished and it was near the end of October. Luke found himself standing in front of a small house in a quiet suburb in Hazeltucky. Why he was there was soon revealed as a small, elderly woman opened the door.

"Yes? Hello?" she asked looking at the brunette teen on her porch.

"Uh...hey Grammy" Luke spoke, his face a light pink as he scratched the back of his head awkwardly. The elderly woman took in the teens appearance for a bit longer before the words finally sunk in for her.

"Little Luke?" she asked, receiving a nod from the teen. The gesture caused the womans face to change from confusion to excitement as she threw the door open and proceeded to jump into her grandson, who in turn caught and spun her around with equal excitement. Breaking the hug, the elderly woman took the teens hand and pulled him inside her home, shutting the door behind them.

The two sat on her couch in the living room as the older woman practically bounced in her seat at the idea of talking to one of her grandkids. The two Louds stayed like that for a few more moments, Grammy bubbling with excitement while Luke was gaining his bearings. Once the moments were over however, Grammy spoke first, her excitement evident in her tone, "So, how have you been, Luke? Have you been eating properly? Are you hungry now? I'll go get you something." 

"Actually Grammy, I won't be here long so you don't have to do that. Ma and Pa kinda...don't know I'm here so I have to be quick" Luke said unevenly.

"Oh...okay then..."

"I've actually come here to ask you something, if that's alright."

Grammy perked up at that, "Of course you can, sweetie."

"Okay..." Luke paused to take a deep breath and steady his nerves, "Would you mind coming to Pa's birthday tomorrow? I think it'd be good for you both to...reconnect."

Grammy was shocked by this, her grandson was inviting her to her eldest sons birthday, a son she hasn't spoken to in almost a decade. Her mind began to run through everything she's ever wanted to say to him, tears began to well up in her green eyes as she began to nod slowly. "Y-yes...I'd love to, Luther. Thank you for inviting me, you have no idea how much this means to me."

"I can hazard a guess," Luke said with a light chuckle as he leaned in to hug his grandmother. After breaking their hug apart, Luke fished an invitation he made out of his pocket and handing it to her. The elderly woman accepted it and offered her eldest grandson a fresh baked strawberry muffin, which he gladly accepted from her before the two hugged and parted ways.

Once the door was shut, Luke sighed heavily before chewing on his muffin, humming in appreciation of his favorite pastry. Getting on his moped, Luke made his way to his next stop before he would head home. Arriving at the location, the brunette finished his muffin before throwing the wrapper into a nearby trash can. Looking around, he spotted his location and grumbled before checking to see if the coast was clear.

Seeing that it was, Luke crossed the street and made his way up to the dingy house. Its lawn heavily overgrown from lack of care, its shutters broken or missing and the paint of the entire abode was chipped. Shivering and hoping no one was home, the teen made his way to the door and knocked.

Everything was quiet for a moment and Luke was close to leaving with the thought that he avoided what was possibly a terrible idea but fate had other plans. The front door was quickly thrown open and a voluptuous yet rather annoyed dirty blonde teen had answered. Luke and the girl took in each others forms without a word being shared between them, the girls face lit up before switching to a seductive smile.

"Why hello there, handsome. I don't think I've seen you around here before, what brings you here?" she asked, batting her thick eyelashes at the now heavily embarrassed Luke who quickly clamped his eyes shut before taking some deep breaths and speaking.

"I came here in hopes of giving you this," he said before taking out an invitation and handing it to her. Taking it, the girl began to read it and after a minute of silent reading, the girl flinched and slowly looked up at the brunette teen. Her face now beginning to turn pink as she opened her mouth and quietly asked a question.

"L-Lukey?"

"H-hey, Camille, long time no see" Luke responded, his face slightly pink again. The girl, Camille, proceeded to sputter and choke on her words as what she had done moments prior came back to her.

"H-holy shit...Holy Shit! I-I just-ugh! To my cousin, no less!" she stated, her disgust at her actions very clearly expressed on her face.

"I mean, to be fair, we haven't seen each other in like ten years. I don't blame you for not recognizing me immediately" Luke tried to justify to his cousin. Camille in turn just shook her head at that before looking back at the invitation and rereading it.

"Tomorrow at your house?" she asked, making Luke nod, "Alright, I'll let RJ and Dad know. Now, please, leave before I embarrass myself anymore, see ya tomorrow Lukey" she finished before closing the door. Luke just sighed and turned to leave, trying not to look back even when he heard the sound of muffled screaming from his cousin.

After making it home and getting situated, he found himself sitting in Lori and Leni's shared room as a sibling meeting was called to order. The teen easily not paying attention as topics that didn't concern him were brought up and discussed before the conversation was brought to the matter at hand.

"Alright, final piece of business, Dad's Party is tomorrow afternoon. Who here still doesn't have a present for him?" Lori asked, surveying the room for anyone to raise their hand. No hands were raised, which prompted the blonde to speak again, "Anyone care to share their gifts? Just so we don't have any repeat gifts like last year."

Luan shot her hand up as she sported a small, mischievous smile, "I'd like to share."

"Luan, I swear if it's a gag gift again, I _will_ punch you" came the annoyed voice of Lynn, a few others voicing their agreement. The comedienne slowly lowered her hand before grumbling about 'Dad thinking it was funny'. Lori, despite this, continued to look amongst her siblings but no one seemed to want to step forward. Sighing heavily, the blonde pinched the bridge of her nose before asking, "Does everyone actually _have_ their gifts? Or do we have to make _another_ late shopping trip?"

Everyone gave their own confirmations on having their gifts which seemed to put her at ease before she nodded and slammed her shoe on the desk, concluding the sibling meeting and causing the Loud children to disperse. The grade schoolers opting to go to bed since they all wanted an early start to the day tomorrow. The teens however, seemed to have other plans for the night as they put the little ones to bed and made sure they were tucked in before going to their rooms.

Light snoring soon filled the house, suggesting the occupants of the abode were fast asleep. The sounds of slumber were soon joined by the sound of doors opening gently and closing moments later. In the hallway now sat four of the highschoolers who all exchanged looks of confirmation before making their way down the stairs and out the front door, taking time to lock it behind them. The four soon climbed into Vanzilla, coasted it out of the driveway as to not wake any of the remaining Louds before roaring the engine to life and making their way to a determined location.

"What happened to Leni? I thought she wanted to come" Luke asked as he drove the ancient vehicle through the dark streets with ease.

"I couldn't wake her up, she usually sleeps like a log on Friday nights" replied Lori was currently keeping her focus trained on the road in case her little brother didn't actually know what he was doing.

"Oh well, her lose, dude" stated Luna with a shrug as she tied off the sweats that Luke had given her to wear.

"Well I hope she didn't sneak any cookies in bed. Or else she's gonna have some crummy sleep!" Luan said, laughing at her own joke while the others groaned. The car ride continued this way with the four casually talking while the sole male drove through the streets and they soon approached their destination. A diner but not just any diner, the 24-hour diner that Luke usually goes to with QT.

"So this is the place? Looks...cosy?" Lori said, her confusion evident in her tone.

"Yeah, this is it. Get your jackets on and let's head in, I wanna get seated before One-Eye Lucas eats all the bacon... _again_ " Luke said, taking the keys out of the ignition and hopping out. The remaining girls merely shared a look of confusion before putting on their jackets and hopping out.

Walking through the door, the Louds were greeted by the sight of a rather large biker sitting at the counter with a mountain of bacon and eggs stacked in front of him. The cool air outside, as well as the doors' bell, seemed to grab everyone's attention. Once they saw who was there, the diner seemed to explode in excitement.

"Well look who it is! Ain't seen you 'round these parts in awhile, Loud!" cried a portly man who was working the griddle. Many of the patrons seemed to agree on that statement which caused the girls to look at their brother with raised eyebrows, Luke in turn just smiled and replied to the man.

"Sorry 'bout that, Jimmy, been a bit busy. Brought some hungry customers though" the Loud boy stated, gesturing to his sisters who all just awkwardly waved.

"Good! If they've got half the appetite you do, then I'm sure we're gonna be plenty busy!" Jerry shouted with a large smile on his face before going back to the griddle. Luke merely nodded making his way over to a booth before stopping and backtracking to the biker. The girls' eyes widened as they saw their brother go over to the intimidating man with a smug grin on his face.

Luke snatched a piece of bacon off the mans' plate and quickly ate it, causing the man to shoot from his seat and tower over the teen. A scowl was etched on the bikers face which was enhanced by the leather eyepatch in place of his right eye. The tall man emitted a sound that sounded like two boulders grinding past each other, making everyone stop what they were doing and watch the two males.

Not a word was said as the two stared each other down before the large biker started to laugh. It started low before rising and soon became a hearty, belly laugh as he scooped Luke up into his arms with Luke laughing alongside him in even heartiness. The whole diner soon joined in and the calm yet carefree atmosphere returned.

"Glad to see you again, Li'l Lu!" the biker declared, sitting Luke back on the ground.

"Same to you, Lucas. How was the trip? I thought you wouldn't be back till spring."

"Bah! I decided to come back early! My daughter-in-law finally had the baby and I couldn't miss meeting my granddaughter!"

"Wha-?! Miranda had the baby?!" Luke exclaimed excitedly but before the biker could reply, he took notice of the blonde and two brunettes who were watching them.

"Say, Lu, who're the girls?" Lucas asked, pointing over to the three teens.

"Oh! They're my sisters! C'mon, I'll introduce you" Luke replied, making his way over to the booth with the biker in tow. "Girls, I'd like to introduce you to One-Eye Lucas. And Lucas, these are some of my sisters" Luke stated.

Lucas extended his hand to which each of the sisters shook it. "Nice to meet you, I'm Lucas" he said gently.

"Hey, brah. Nice to meet you, I'm Luna. Luke's rockin' twin."

"Pleasure to meet you, I'm Lori. His eldest sister."

"Yaaar! Pleasure to make ye acquaintance, I be Captain Luan!" said the jokester, in an over exaggerated pirate voice as she had closed one of her eyes. To say Lori and Luna where shocked at their little sisters attempt at a joke would be an understatement, Lori began to sputter and attempt to apologize to the man. She was met by an unexpected reaction however.

"Yaaaar, De pleasure be mine! Pleased to meet ye, Captain Luan!" Lucas responded, giving the girl a firm shake as he spoke in his own pirate voice. This made the young teen smile brightly, taking joy in her joke being appreciated. Once Lucas had released her hand though, his phone went off and upon him answering it, he sighed heavily before hanging up.

"I gotta go, Jake's panicking... _again_ " Lucas stated, pinching the bridge of his nose before waving goodbye to the Loud kids and leaving with his food having been packed and paid for. The roaring of a motorcycle could be heard outside as the large man took his leave.

"Well he was...something" Lori said, her tone showed a bit of confusion.

"How do you know him?" Luna asked, Luke now sliding into the booth and picking up his menu.

"He taught me how to fight. Also how to make a rather delicious chocolate souffle" Luke replied nonchalantly as he scanned the menu.

"Wait, what?" Lori said, her eyes wide and staring at her brother who just looked over to her and smiled before waving a waitress over and ordering their drinks for them, knowing already what they wanted. The drinks soon came and what snapped Lori from her staring was hearing the waitress speak.

"Are you ready to order?" she asked.

"I am, Beves." Luke said, gaining the woman's attention before he continued, "Can I get the All-Star Breakfast? Smothered hash browns, toasted wheat bread, over-hard eggs, country ham, aaaaand an order of biscuits and gravy."

The waitress wrote it down, a smile playing on her lips as she looked at the brunette teens expectantly, causing the boy to blush. "Going with a light order I see, Lu," Beves spoke, making the boy blush harder. Giggling a bit, the woman looked over at the sisters who all wore stunned looks from hearing their brothers order. Slowly the three girls gave their orders and the waitress left. Turning back to their brother, the girls all had questions but look decided to not talk for awhile.

The food soon arrived and the four siblings started to eat, or more specifically watch their brother easily tear through his order as they ate a normal pace. Once Luke was done, he neatly stacked his plates up and sipped on his drink. The rest of the sisters continued to eat before Lori spoke up.

"So what'd you guys get dad?" she asked before taking a bite of her waffle.

"I got him a Union Jack" replied Luna with a smile, knowing how happy her dad's gonna be.

"I got him something similar," Luan started, making Luna raise an eyebrow, "You'll see" was all the young teen said before going back to her food. Lori just rolled her eyes, knowing that Luan had something up her sleeve but didn't voice it.

"I think I'll let mine be a surprise," Luke said, making the girls turn to him "I don't wanna spoil it too soon."

"That's fair, I guess. I just got him some new ties and apron" Lori replied, finishing her own plate and stacking it on Luke's. Luna and Luan soon finished and followed suit before something dawned on the three girls, they hadn't brought their wallets.

"Hey, Luke? Would you mind...?" asked Luna, her cheeks earning a light pink as she trailed off. Lori and Luan were too embarrassed to finish the statement for their sister. The sole Loud boy sighed before pulling out his wallet and giving his card to the waitress. Once the food was paid for, a tip was left, and the check was signed by Luke, the Louds made their way home.

After repeating the process of how they got out but in reverse, the four found themselves in the hallway where they were about to part ways before something surprising happened. Each of the girls gave Luke a peck on the cheek as a thanks for paying and goodnight, which caused the brunette's face to heat up as he gave a weak 'goodnight' to each sister before going to the bathroom to take care of his usual routine and finally go to bed.

Morning soon arrived for the Louds and while usually a few of the siblings preferred to sleep in, today was not a usual day, one by one, each of the Loud kids went about preparing their gifts and such. While most of the siblings were handling that, one Loud in particular was making his way out the door.

"Alright guys, I'm off to get a few things and I'll be back" Luke stated as he made his way out of the door before any of the others could protest. Upon the door shutting, silence greeted the house as the siblings stared at the door to make sure the eldest boy was actually gone. Realizing that he was, the siblings turned towards the highschool siblings with baited breath.

"Well? What's he getting Dad?" Asked Lincoln as he stared between his older sisters who all shrugged and shook their heads.

"Don't know, Linc. Said he wanted to keep it a surprise" Luna stated, her usual laid-back tone coating her voice.

"Dang it! He would've talked if I had been with you guys" Came the voice of a rather disgruntled Lynn, still upset at the fact that she fell asleep before she could go.

"I doubt it, we were surrounded by people that knew Luke real well" Luan said, shrugging her shoulders again.

"Wait, where _did_ you guys go?" Lincoln asked, raising an eyebrow in genuine curiosity.

"A diner. Luke treated us to a nice late night dinner" Lori stated bluntly, adding her two cents to the conversation.

"Dang it!" Cried Lola, upset at having missed out on the chance of getting a late night dessert to herself, "Take me with you next time!" she demanded.

"Maybe next time, Lols" Luna said. While the children were talking amongst themselves, inside the parents room Rita was finally climbing out of bed to help prepare her husband's party. Opening her door, the blonde woman was greeted to the sight of almost all her kids in the living room. Hearing the door open, the kids all turned to greet who they thought was their dad but were taken aback seeing their mother.

"Morning, mom!" came the many voices of her children as she stifled a yawn.

"Morning, kids. You're all up early, thought I was gonna have to wake you" Rita said after biting back a loud yawn.

"While usually such a thing would be required for adolescents such as ourselves, on a day such as this that would not be necessary," Lisa said, causing everyone in the room to stop what they were doing to turn towards the young genius. For about the past month or so, the little girl hadn't really spoke unless spoken directly to, which worried the rest of them. Seeing her seem like her usual self however, brought a smile to everyone's faces especially to Lily's who had missed her roommates voice.

Noticing she was being looked at, the prodigy voice her confusion, "What has everyone's attention? Was my statement incorrect?"

"Sa-sa!" cried Lily as she threw her hands up in excitement, causing everyone to do the same. The child genius was still confused over this but decided against voicing her confusion. After the cheering came to a quick close, Rita decided to take her leave to get ready for the day.

The preparations continued for a while longer until there was an unexpected but familiar sound. The sound of someone ringing the doorbell, being shocked and hitting the ground harshly. Curious, Rita went over to the door and opened it, looking left and then right before looking down and being surprised. Looking down, the mother of twelve was taken aback to see a head of thick, silver hair.

"Um, may I help you?" Rita asked, offering her hand to help the person up.

"Yes, could you finally get that doorbell fixed?" asked the woman who Rita had helped up. The blonde then had a feeling of familiarity as she heard the voice. Once the elderly woman gave Rita a warm smile, it hit her like a ton of bricks.

"D-Deborah?" She asked hesitantly, easily getting a small nod from the woman.

"How have you been, dear?" the elderly woman asked.

"Who was at the door, mom?" Leni asked as she was helping Lori set up the decorations. Turning to the side to allow the woman to enter, the platinum blonde got her answer.

"Grammy!" cried the teens as they dropped what they were doing to rush over to their grandmother. The elderly woman laughing cheerfully as she accepted the hugs her grandkids gave her.

"My, my, look at how big you've all gotten!" she stated, taking in the new appearance of her now much older grandchildren, "You five have grown into such beautiful, young women! I bet my son has to beat the boys back with a stick now, doesn't he?" Grammy said, earning small blushes from the teen girls.

"Mommy, who is this?" Lola asked, walking over to the elderly woman with the rest of the grade schoolers, save for Lisa who was playing with Lily.

"Oh my, Rita. I would've thought you stopped at number eight" Grammy stated cheekily to her daughter-in-law, making the aforementioned blonde blush heavily.

"Girls, this is Deborah Loud. She's your fathers' mom" Rita said, gesturing to the woman while she got her embarrassment under control.

"Pleasure to meet more of my adorable grandkids" Grammy spoke joyfully as she crouched down to where she was eye level with the little Louds and outstretched her arms to which the kids, though hesitant at first, accepted.

"What're you doing here, Deborah?" Rita asked, now realizing how out of place it was for the woman to suddenly appear without reason.

"Oh yeah!" Grammy said, standing to her full height while still holding Lola in one of her arms, "I was invited."

"By who?" Luan asked, just as confused as everyone else.

"Luke" the elderly woman said before presenting the invitation to which Rita took it and examined it. While the invitation itself wasn't anything spectacular, given the fact that Luke most likely made it hurriedly, it was written in the eldest boys handwriting.

"Huh, so he did" Rita muttered before turning to Lori, "Do you know where Luke went?"

"He didn't say but knowing him, he'll be back soon enough."

"Ah...I see, well Deborah, make yourself comfortable. We still need to finish preparing."

"Alright sweetie, but first I need someone to help me get something out of my car." Upon the silver haired woman saying that, Luna shot forward and offered to help before anyone else could. The elderly smiled at gestured for the brunette to follow.

Once they were outside, the two Louds made their way over to the small green car. Just as Luna reached for the door, Grammy's hand reached out and took Luna's gently. Confused by this, the rocker looked over at her grandmother.

"Sweetie, mind if I ask you something first?" the elderly woman asked gently, earning a small nod from her granddaughter, "Do they know?"

That simple question brought confusion to the rocker but before she could ask, Luna took in her grandmother's concerned expression and the nature of the question made itself known to her. A bright smile made itself onto the rockers face and she nodded happily.

"Good, I'm happy for you," Grammy said before a mischievous gleam appeared in her eye "Now when can I meet her?"

"Today, actually, she's coming to dad's party." The elderly woman just smiled brightly and nodded before releasing Luna's hand.

Time passed quickly for the Louds and soon the smell of freshly baked muffins permeated through the house as Grammy took the last batch of her special strawberry muffins out of the oven. Shutting the door and setting them on the counter, the sound of many feet making their way towards the kitchen made the woman spin on her heel with a wooden spoon in hand.

"Back!" cried the woman as the many faces of her family came sliding into the kitchen, having finally losing their patience and wanting one of the delicious smelling pastries. At the front of the horde of hungry faces was her oldest son who was ready to pounce.

"Come on, Mom! Just one, we'll all split it" he offered as he tried to scoot towards his mother.

"Back, I said, Junior! That goes double for you too, Junior, Jr!" The elderly woman said, holding the spoon as if it were as sword. This standoff continued for a bit until there was a knock at the door, cutting through the tension in the room. "You best go answer it, kiddo. Don't forget your manners just cause you're man of the house now" Grammy spoke, not breaking eye contact with her son.

The standoff resumed for a few moments later before Lynn Sr. caved and had his family file out with his mother leaving before him. Giggling to himself, the birthday man turned to get a muffin but was hit in the back of the head by the wooden spoon that his mom had thrown at him. Knowing that it was most likely not the only spoon she had, the Loud Patriarch exited the kitchen and went to the living room.

"Well if it ain't my big brother!" came a familiar voice as Lynn entered the room. A sense of dread filled the man as he looked at the middle aged man standing just past his threshold. Lynn's baby brother, Remus Loud, retired heavyweight boxer, with his two kids and wife standing on either side of him.

"Remus? What're you doing here?" Lynn asked.

"We were invited by your boy!" Remus replied, cheekily.

"Which one?" Lynn asked, earning a haughty laugh from a rather shapely blonde clinging to the man's arm.

"Oh, Remmy, you never told me your brother was such a jokester!" the redhead stated, lightly smacking Remus on his sculpted chest.

"And you must be...?" Rita asked, confused as to who this mystery woman was.

"Oh, where are my manners, I'm Ophelia. Remmy-Wemmys' other half" The redhead spoke as she nuzzled her husband's neck. The gesture earned a lot of disgusted faces, most especially from Grammy and Lynn Sr, who both couldn't help but gag a bit. As the four of them began to make themselves comfortable, which consisted mostly of Remmy catching up to his brother and mother and Ophelia trying to give beauty tips to Rita and her two eldest daughters. Camille was deciding to get to know her little cousins that she didn't know before.

"Well, well, well. Ain't this is a surprise" said a tall, athletically built teen as he looked at Luan and Lynn.

"RJ?" Luan asked, looking up at the towering brunette.

"No, it's Aunt Shirley" RJ said before he leaned down and got in Luan's face, making the brunette a bit uncomfortable, "Yeah its me, Beaver teeth."

Over time, more guests showed up and with that the party came into full swing. Despite the party happening, Luke had yet to return but that was soon changed when suddenly the door was thrown open and in came the aforementioned teen who now was smiling brightly as he twirled some keys around his finger.

"Luke!" cried his little siblings as they ran up and hugged their brother who merely patted them on their heads. Hearing her sons name called, Rita quickly broke from her 'engaging' conversation with Ophelia to make her way over.

"Luke, where have you been? I was beginning to get worried" Rita said as she hugged her son.

"Sorry about that, Ma. It took a bit longer than I wanted to get Pa's gift" Luke spoke, his smile not wavering in the slightest. That statement confused the woman, having assumed that Luke inviting extended family was his gift. Seeing his mother's confusion, Luke chuckled before getting out of his mothers hold to step past her. "Attention Everyone! We're gonna be opening presents a bit early! Gather around!" Luke declared, grabbing everyone's attention and causing the guests to all grab their presents and push them onto the coffee table.

To say the presents were as high as a mountain would be an understatement. Very quickly, the birthday man got to work on his presents, taking time to set his family's presents to the side and after what felt like hours, Lynn Sr finally got to his family. Deciding to go from youngest up, he grabbed the present that his youngest teen had decided to get him.

"Two tickets to a Wolverines' Game?!" the man cried out in shock before looking at his daughter. Lynn Jr, who would usually boast about anything that she deemed an accomplishment, told her dad that it was a combined effort from her and all the little one's choosing to pool their allowances together to buy them. After thanking the girls and giving them big hugs, the man moved to his next present.

After tearing through the wrapping, Lynn Sr was greeted with a shirt saying 'I'm not 46, I'm about 36 in pounds' written in Union Jack, earning a laugh from the man as he hugged and thanked Luan for it. Once Lynn turned to his eldest son, Luke just shook his head and said to wait till the end. The father of twelve nodded and moved over to Luna who had, with a bit of flourish, unfolded a Union Jack flag to which Lynn Sr gladly accepted it.

"Thanks for the ol' Union Jack, Luv" Lynn said in a British voice.

"Anytime, Lynn-estrone!" Luna responded in kind, with the same British tone. The two shared a laugh and a hug. Moving to Leni's gift, the middle-aged man was swiftly taken aback upon opening his second borns' present.

"A peacoat?!" Lynn exclaimed in shock, causing anyone who was drinking something to perform a spit take in surprise from the reveal of the very expensive looking article of clothing. The man looked over at his daughter, who was currently wearing her usual bright smile, "Leni, how'd you afford this?" he asked, causing the blonde to look at him confused.

"I didn't buy it. Didn't you see the tag?" Leni asked, her head tilting slightly as she put her finger to her chin. Lynn now took another look at the coat and noticed something that he didn't before. The tag at the collar had Leni's signature on it in an entirely professional manner.

"You made this?" Lynn asked, looking back at his daughter who in turn nodded vigorously. The patriarch hugged his daughter tightly and thanked her profusely. After a few moments, Lynn got to Lori's present, a more modern version of a record player. Said item comes with bluetooth connectivity as well as cassette, cd, and, of course, record playability. The Loud man was ecstatic about the gift but more so when he opened Rita's gift, a Red Hot Bell Peppers album.

Not just any album though, the album that had their song on it. The song that played the night they fell in love with each other. Lynn couldn't help himself as he stood up and brought his wife into a deep kiss, earning 'Awws' from the party goers as he did so. Once he brought her back up and broke their kiss, he thanked her which only got a rather dreamy 'You're welcome, Honey' from his wife.

"I thought you got him ties and an apron" Luna whispered to Lori to which the blonde cheekily smiled and gave the rocker a playful wink.

"Luke and Luan weren't the only ones that wanted their gift to be a surprise."

Moving onto the next gift was his mom as she handed him two items, a necklace and a letter, with the instructions to read the letter another time. Understanding that, Lynn unveiled the necklace to the party, a peace sign is what greeted him. With that sign though, came a bundle of memories with it, memories of the rather...unsteady kind. Heaving a deep sigh, Lynn pocketed the necklace with a small smile to his mom, a smile that she returned.

Finally, everyone turned to the last Loud, Luke who had taken this time to grab a muffin from the kitchen and was currently munching on it in delight. Seeing that all eyes were on him, Luke just casually tossed the keys he had been twirling to his dad. Lynn caught the item out of midair before studying them, a sense of familiarity came upon him as he looked at them before looking at his son.

"Luke...is this what I think it is?" Lynn asked, looking at his son with wide eyes.

"I unno, Pa. Go outside and check" Luke said easily between bites, causing the man to shoot from his seat and make his way out the front door. The rest of the party followed suit and were shocked to see what Luke had gotten.

"Veronica?!" cried the Loud children as they all gazed upon the van that their father had onced owned a year ago.

 _ **And that wraps chapter 10 folks, I hope you enjoyed it. Surprised? I hope so, I had wanted to do more with Remus and his small family but I felt as though that was something for another chapter. Also, Veronica's back! That was something cool, right? Wonder how Luke swung that. That'll be something we explore in future chapters so keep an eye out and until then, Stay Tuned Readers!**_


	11. Unexpected Surprise

Not So Loud...

 _ **Hey Readers, surprised? I bet. There's a reason behind such a new chapter being uploaded right after one just came out. That reason being, originally, this chapter and the last chapter were going to be one chapter but I figured that celebrating Lynn's birthday could've been a whole chapter and Halloween could've been its own chapter. Thus here we are, so I know you all must be excited so I won't keep you any longer. Now without further ado, Enjoy!**_

 _Unexpected Surprise_

"Hurry up, Lincoln!" cried Lori as she blared the horn of Vanzilla. A few minutes passed before the white haired boy made his way out of the house, zipping up his jacket as he did. In the few days after Lynn Sr's birthday, life for the family of fourteen became slightly easier due to the surprising gift of a second van that Luke remained secretive about obtaining to this day. Due to the age of Vanzilla, as well as some convincing on Luke's end, a deal was struck between the Loud parents and their five high school kids and thusly the archaic vehicle was passed down.

Luke visibly shuddered upon remembering how tightly his dad hugged him as he handed the boy the keys to the family heirloom. Since Lynn wanted to uphold the tradition in the family, the eldest Loud boy became the owner of the vehicle in all but title. The teen boy easily handed the keys to Lori under the express command that she couldn't demand favors since the van was his to which the older blonde reluctantly agreed.

Now here they all sit in the van as they made their way to the elementary school, on the Eve of Halloween. A day that they all knew was upon them as their dad had awoken them today by screaming as if he'd seen a ghost, which technically he did but it was a mere decoration. Luke simply chuckled at the memory as he continued to read his digital book but was quickly stopped when a voice spoke up behind him.

"Reading something funny, Lukey?" asked a curious Lola who had stood up in her seat to see what her brother was reading to prompt a laugh.

"No, Princess, just remembering this morning" Luke replied, quickly turning off his phone to prevent her from seeing it.

"That was pretty funny, wasn't it? I never get tired of it!" stated the pink clad girl as she giggled in genuine amusement. An odd thing given that Lola almost always seemed to enjoy someone suffering but at the moment, the memory seemed to just make her giggle like any innocent kid would at something like that. The mere thought of that used to perturb Luke but the Loud boy knew even someone like Lola could still be innocent and sweet.

"Yeah, it's always pretty fa- _boo_ -lous when it's this time of the year!" cut in Luan as she laughed at her pun, causing everyone to groan at the pun and made Luke lose the somewhat nice moment he was having with Lola. With a roll of their eyes, the two kids easily sat in their seats properly and enjoyed the ride. Soon, the elementary schoolers disembarked as did Lynn when she got to her stop and finally Lori parked at the highschool, the remaining Loud kids got out and they made their way inside.

Class went about the same as it usually did for the high schoolers. Before anyone knew it, lunch was upon them and Luke made his way to the cafeteria. The brunette sat quietly at his table, enjoying his meal, sneakily reading a book on his phone. Glancing up, Luke looked over and spotted Luan sitting across from her boyfriend, Benny. In the month or so since his suspension as well as his break up with Carol, Luke had practically become a ghost to the boy as he was always doing his best to avoid him. Something that Benny noticed and took advantage of as much as he could, gathering information on the teen everytime he had come over to the Loud abode. While Luke was busy glancing between Benny and his book, the brunette failed to notice a trio of athlete's exiting the cafeteria in the direction of the theatre.

Lunch was soon over and the three brunettes made their way over to their next class. Walking through the back doors, the three were greeted by Mrs. Bernardo as well as a couple of students who arrived early or were making their way out of the class.

"Why hello, my beautiful students!" the thespian teacher greeted in her usually cheery tone.

"Hey, Mrs B!" replied Luan and Benny with Luke giving a small wave. The two younger teens made their way over to sit down and talk while the older teen merely got his keys from the teacher and made his way over to the side door that lead up to the tech booth. Making the climb that he usually makes up the stairs, Luke made his way inside and gently shut the door.

Breathing a sigh of relief, finally in his second home away from home, the Loud boy placed his backpack down and sat in his swivel chair. Stretching out, a few joints in Luke's back and shoulders popped, leaving the teen less tense as he now sat and waited. Time soon started to pass and the class below was in full swing, various students participating in improv exercises and having fun.

Luke observed it all from his booth and soon the boy became thirsty and while this would be a problem, luckily, Luke was allowed to have a minifridge in the booth with the strict instruction that only water was allowed in it. Pushing himself over in his chair, the brunette teen easily pulled the door opened before peering inside.

Meanwhile, down below, Luan was pantomiming that she was driving a car with Jackie sitting next to her and Shannon behind them, "Oh Em Gee, Gurl! Did you see her shoes? Like ew!" Luan said, putting on her best, yet incredibly exaggerated Leni voice.

"I know right, and her top? It was like sooo 90's!" Jackie added, exaggerating her own voice the same way Luan was.

"And her hat looked like it was made from a skunk's butt or something!" Shannon chimed in, "I was gonna like _literally_ scream!" And like that, in a moment of irony, the entire theatre class heard a terror filled shriek coming from the booth followed by a rather loud crash. The sound chilled many of the students to the bone but Luan, that caused her eyes to widen before she shot from her seat and took off towards the stairs that lead to the booth.

Tearing her way up the stairs, the young brunette made it to the top before throwing the door open. What she saw before her was something she didn't want to see, her older brother who was currently cowering and trembling in the corner of the booth, as far away from the minifridge, as he could be, while it currently wide open and showed what looked to be the head of a cougar sitting in it, ground beef and fake blood hanging from its mouth, with a crudely written 'Happy Halloween' note above it. Making her way over to Luke, the young teen intentionally put herself directly in his line of sight to block him from the item in the fridge.

"Luke? I need you to look at me" Luan spoke gently, trying to pull her brother out of the state he was in. She knelt in front of him and gently touched his arm, a bad move, as she did so, she got a reaction out of her brother who proceeded to scream again before shoving Luan away and making a break for the open door. As he made it through the threshold however, Mrs. Bernardo had finally made her way to the tech room and cut off the boys only exit.

The teacher easily saw the amount of genuine fear in the teens eyes as he then took a step away from the older woman before looking back at Luan, who had climbed to her feet as was eyeing her brother in concern.

"Luke, please! Just calm down, we're trying to help!" Luan pleaded, now getting worried about her big brother. The young jokester took a slight step towards the panicking teen. Luke took notice to this, though right now he seemed to not be listening to her, and seeing something take a step towards him made the boy begin to sweat as he eyes widened before looking around for another exit.

That's when he saw his exit, the windows of the booth. They were already opened slightly, enough for him to probably squeeze through. Deciding to rather risk a twisted ankle than remain in a room where he was surrounded by predators. Quickly dashing over, Luke began to pull the windows open. Seeing one of her students possibly attempting to hurt themselves caused Mrs Bernardo to make her way over to Luke, who at this point was already making his way out of the window, and reached for him. The woman got a firm on the teens leg but was quickly thrown to the side by Luke kicking her in the head with his other leg.

The moment she was tossed to the side gave Luan enough time to finish pulling Luke back into the booth. Using all of her strength, the freshman heaved her brother back inside. Falling to the ground, the two Loud siblings seemingly wrestled on the floor before finally Luan pinned her brother and easily climbed on top of him to prevent him from squirming too much. Pushing his arms down onto the floor, Luan spoke with more authority in her voice.

"Luther, it's me! It's Luan, calm down!" the girl declared, staring down at her brother who was still squirming beneath her. Releasing his arms, Luan quickly took Lukes face into her hands and began to rub his cheeks with her thumbs while whispering peaceful things to him. The reaction was slow, but Luke seemingly started to calm down. While he wasn't entirely calm in the slightest, he wasn't panicking like a few moments ago.

Once the technician seemed to be able to listen to reason, Luan helped to guide him down the stairs and into the hallway while Mrs. Brenardo called for the principal and head of security to come to the booth. The two Louds sat down in the hallway with Luke hugging a small waste bin to his chest, since the adrenaline was beginning to wear off for the teen, nausea was soon to replace it. No words were said between the two as the two staff members made their way up and spoke with the theatre teacher or when the two were taken to the nurses office.

To say Jackie couldn't wait to tell Leni what happened would've been a huge understatement, seeing as how she was so avidly texting said platinum blonde as she made her way to history class. While Jackie herself hasn't really ever spoken to the brunette, she knows that he was Leni's younger brother which meant she had to watch over him like how she'd want someone to watch over Sebastian.

Making it to class, Jackie took her seat and swiftly turned to Mandee and speaking, "Oh My Gosh, Mandee! You're aren't gonna believe what just happened in theatre!"

"Spencer finally asked you out?!" Madee exclaimed.

"What? No...wait did he something?" Jackie asked, quickly shaking her head though, she got back on task "No, that's not what happened."

"Then what did? You didn't get hurt did you?"

"No, but I'm sure Leni's brother did."

"Wait, which one? The little guy or the cute brunette?"

Jackie stared at her friend blankly before answering, "The brunette."

"Ah. Wait, what happened to him?" Mandee asked and Jackie opened her mouth to recount the story but the bell rung. Rolling her eyes, Jackie just gestured to her phone since she knew that the teacher would complain if she talked in class. The brunette understood what her friend meant, even without her saying anything. Turning ahead to face the teacher, the two girls soon began their silent conversation. Jackie easily recounting the story from what she had gathered with the other theatre students.

Elsewhere in the school, Three football players were laughing as they watched a video that informed them that their plan had gone off without a hitch. "Dude, I can't believe that actually worked!" exclaimed Reggie as he gasped for air from how hard he was laughing.

"I know right?! He probably pissed himself! I would've paid to see that!" Brad added, wiping his eyes of tears. The two athletes were practically falling over themselves while their leader slowly collected himself.

"Alright, alright" Darrell started, before clearing his throat, "Alright, guys, part one went off without a hitch and now part two needs to happen before we're done with that asshat." The two agreed on that, already knowing their parts to play without having to review it anymore. All they need to do is have Luke show up to the party tomorrow and the trap will be sprung. The three teens chuckled mischievously to each other as they made their way to the gym to get ready for the game.

The day soon came to a close as the bell rang to signal the last class was finished. The halls soon filled with students who were eager to get home and get Halloween plans underway. Luke was in his Computer Programming class, packing his bag silently. After the incident in the booth, the first born boy had become almost entirely mute over the course of the day, flinching at any slight touch and seemingly keeping his head on a swivel at all times.

One, Beatrix Yates, noticed this during class and choose to wait until after to speak about it. She gently approached the Loud before speaking, her usual smile entirely gone, "Luther, is everything fine? You seem out of it today."

"I'm fine..." came a hushed response before the boy as he zipped up his bag, "Don't worry about me, Beatrix." If there were any red flags that didn't go up before, then a huge one just did upon Luke calling her by her first name.

"Oh...alright," the eldest Yates girl said, concern evident on her face as she looked at the brunette, "Well if you need to ever talk, I'm always close by," she finished, only to receive a nod from the boy as he left the class.

Making his way down the hall, Luke kept his head down and moved as swiftly as he could. His plan was to get into Vanzilla as quickly as possible, the plan was put on hold however when he unintentionally bumped into the side of someone. Rather than fall with the person, the Loud seemingly bounced off them, causing him to look at who it was.

"Whoa dude, where's the fire?" asked QT in concern, looking down at her friend as she closed her locker. The buxom brunette was worried about her friend all day since usually Luke would text her all day, even when he didn't have free time. After lunch however, she hadn't really received anything from him and to make matters worse, when they got to their class and she grabbed his shoulder to talk to him, Luke slapped her hand away and moved to his seat hurriedly without a word. To say she was worried would be underplaying it significantly for her as she now stared at her friend who was looking at the door behind her rather than at her directly.

"There's no fire, Isabelle. Please move, I have to get to work" Luke responded as he pushed passed the brunette who let him pass. The moment he mentioned her first name made her heart clench in fear as she now realized that her best friend wasn't busy, or even tired, he was scared and wanted to leave the school as fast as possible. She now had to get to the bottom of this and knew that the best option would be for her to talk to his sisters once he was at work.

Making it to the van in record time, Luke leaned against the door as he waited for his other sisters to make their way over and he could far away from the school for a couple of days. To say that Luke was rattled after theatre class wouldn't do his emotions any justice, the brunette was absolutely terrified at the moment. Since the incident, Luke had been feeling nauseated and cold, two things that weren't good signs for him.

Trying to take calming breaths, the Loud teen found it slightly difficult to breathe due to his chest feeling as though it were being squeezed by an invisible force. Before he even realized it however, Luke began to feel dizzy and would've fallen if it weren't for him leaning on the ancient van door. He needed to get home and quickly, the one place he knew that was safe due to him being able to barricade himself into his room.

"Lukey!" cried a voice as Luke felt himself be pulled into a warm, soft chest. The embrace was only slightly comforting to him as he looked up and saw a frowning Leni who looked to be on the verge of crying. "Jackie told me something happened and said you were hurt! I got so worried, like what if you hit your head or something! Are you okay, Lukey?! Please be okay!"

"Easy Leni, he can't answer if you suffocate him" came the voice of Lori as she walked up in a hurried pace, being flanked by Luna and Luan. The three girls held expressions of worry on their faces as they looked at their brother, who was released gently from Leni's grip.

"You feeling better, Luke?" asked Luan as she made her way over to him, being cautious so as to not send him into a panic. The second youngest teen hadn't been able to focus in class all day, worried over her brothers wellbeing.

"...no" Luke responded meekly before shaking his head and turning to Lori, "Can we leave? I need to get to work."

"Oh no you don't, you're staying home today. Gus'll understand once we tell him what's going on" the eldest blonde explained as she and the others began to climb into Vanzilla and left the parking lot.

After picking up the rest of the siblings, all of which took notice of their brothers odd behavior, the Loud kids made it home and once inside, they all scattered. The only exceptions being the high schoolers, who in turn decided to make their way to Lori and Leni's room. Upon them making it inside and shutting the door, all eyes were on Luke, making the boy immediately uncomfortable, especially due to Lori's eyes.

Taking notice of this, Lori asked the girls to back off of Luke so as to not make him more unsettled than he already was. "First things first, Luke. Hand me your phone" Lori said, outstretching her hand. Knowing there was no point in telling her no, since she'd get it one way or another, the teen handed the device over to the blonde.

Scrolling through his contacts, Lori dialed Gus' number and put the device to her ear. After a couple of rings, the elderly man answered and the two held a small conversation about Luke taking absence for the day, due to health reasons. The elderly easily agreed with the blonde and told her to take care of the boy while he was out of work for the day to which she easily agreed.

After hanging up, Lori gave the device back and spoke, "You're in the clear. Gus said he'd get Gazlene to fill in for you."

"Ugh... _her_...fine, I guess" Luke muttered out, "Thanks."

"No problem," Lori began before taking a seat next to Luke, much to Luan's chagrin, "Now tell me what happened."

Upon the request being said, the brunette boy retold the event though with hesitation. By the end of the retelling however, all the girls in the room were furious, this wasn't a simple misplaced prank, it was intentionally placed there for Luke to see. Someone knew this would affect Luke as horribly as it would, all for a laugh. At first, Lori had grabbed Luan and demanded answers, thinking that her sister was the culprit which prompted the fourteen-year-old to only shout back at her sister, stating that she didn't do it.

The two glared harshly at one another, even with Luna breaking them apart and putting them on opposite sides of the room. Luke, seeing that this would eventually possibly spark a fight between the two, spoke up, "I don't think Luan did it. She would've had a hard time getting my keys from Mrs Bernardo."

"How do you know she didn't just pick the lock?" Lori asked, her glare not to leave her little sister.

"Oh please! I'm an escape artist, not a lock-smith!" shouted Luan, throwing her hands up indignantly.

"She's got a point, brah. I've seen her try to pick a lock before, but she doesn't have a knack for it" Luna said, defending her roommate.

"Only people who can are me and Leni" Luke added quietly, making Lori ease up her glare a tad. Now the blonde wasn't mad at Luan but just the topic at hand. She'd apologize to her little prankster sister another time but right now she was busy being angry.

"Then who would it-" Lori began but was cut off by the sound of the doorbell ringing. A few moments passed between the four and there was soon a knock on the door. After being given the confirmation to enter from Lori, a head of white hair popped into the room as Lincoln looked in to address Luan.

"Benny's here. Says there's something he wants to ask you about" Lincoln said, earning a nod from the aforementioned brunette and he merely returned the gesture. After the young boy took his leave, the highschoolers were left to themselves. Sharing looks amongst themselves, they decided to wait till later to finish this conversation.

One by one they all got up to leave with Luan in the front, but before Luke could leave, he felt a hand gently placed on his shoulder. Flinching slightly, he turned to see Lori giving him a look of concern.

"Leni, you go ahead. I wanna talk to Luke real quick" Lori said to her roommate, removing her hand from Luke as she did so. The blonde in turn wanted to say something back but cut herself off as she saw the look of worry that Lori held on her face. Nodding slightly, the fashionista quietly took her leave, taking a moment to shut the door behind her.

A moment between the two passed tensely, Luke hadn't really spent any one on one time with Lori since the fight they had. Lori, in kind, had just been actively avoiding her brother out of guilt since she still felt as though she were responsible for Luke and Carol's break-up. The two seemed to not have anything to say until Lori decided she needed to make the move since Luke wasn't going to.

With slight hesitation, the blonde gingerly brought her little brother into a soft hug. A few seconds passed by before Luke returned it, a bit more tightly than Lori's grip. "You okay, Lukey?" Lori asked gently, starting to rub circles into the teens back, performing the act ever so gently.

"...not really" Luke replied meekly, his tension easing out. Lori nodded at that, knowing how much the boy was fighting off the desire to go into his room and stay there for the weekend.

"You think you wanna bunk with me tonight? I'll make sure to keep you safe for the night" Lori stated gently, wanting to help her brother with what could easily be a sleepless night for him.

Looking up at his sister, the oldest boy couldn't help but feel a bit suspicious towards her. Luke wasn't oblivious like Lincoln, he knew she had a reason behind why she was offering it to him, especially given the fact that Lori had taken to avoid being around him by herself for a while now.

"Why the sudden offer?" Luke asked, looking into Lori's eyes, though with difficulty.

Lori expected this and moved from Luke's back to his scalp and started to scratch it just as gently before explaining, "Because last time something like this happened, you woke up screaming. I just want to make sure you get some sleep."

While she had given a good response and one that Luke could understand. Despite his age, Luke was someone who was easily always agreed to bunk with a sister for his or theirs. Thinking it over, mostly because he just wanted to enjoy the head scratches that he was getting, Luke finally gave an answer.

"Okay."

Meanwhile downstairs, Luan and all of her siblings were mulling over what was just said by Benny. Jaws were hanging open slightly as they stared at the two actors, Luan herself easily staring at her boyfriend in equal shock.

Recovering first, Luna spoke "Wait a sec, brah. How'd you get invited to Monster Mash? That's for like Juniors and Seniors."

"Hehe...well, I might've had to pull some strings with some of the seniors in theatre to get the invite. Figured I'd see if Luan wanted to go with me," Benny said before blushing, "I mean, unless she's already got plans! She doesn't _have_ to go."

To everyone, even grade schoolers, the Monster Mash was _the_ party to be at for Halloween if you were a teen nearing adulthood. It was like one of the crazy parties a lot of people wished they had when they were in highschool and to get invited was a rarity. So to say that the Loud kids were shocked was an understatement.

A moment passed and finally Luan gave her answer, "O-of course, I mean, I'd have to be crazy to say no."

"Great!" Benny exclaimed, "I'll be here around 8:30 to pick you up!"

"Y-yeah, okay" Luan replied sheepishly, rubbing her arm lightly.

"Alright," Benny started before leaning and giving Luan a light peck on the lips, "See ya tomorrow then."

"Yeah...tomorrow..." Luan answered, her face now a faint pink. Benny smiled at that before waving at the other siblings and leaving, a moment of stunned silence passed before the room exploded in cheers.

"Dude, you're in!" exclaimed Luna as she pulled her roommate into a hug as she, with her other siblings, jumped up and down in glee.

"Oh we _have_ to get you a new costume!" Leni exclaimed.

"Yeah, Mad Scientist is _so_ last year!" Lola agreed, some of the others easily agreeing.

"What's all the shouting for?" came the voice of Lori as she and Luke made their way downstairs.

"Luan just got invited to Monster Mash!" Leni replied, her excitement being heavily shown. Luke and Lori gave each other looks of concern at that, the two of them had been invited and both knew what the party entailed. Truth be told, Luke himself hadn't planned to go at first since he had no date and dance parties tended to not be places he attended. Given the sudden invite for Luan however, he began to reconsider it. Thinking back on it, this had reminded Luke of the homecoming dance so instead of wanting to repeat history, the Loud teen scrapped the idea.

"Uh, Luan, I don't think that's a good idea," Lori said, unease set in her tone. As soon as the words left her mouth though, the excitement halted as the siblings turned to her, "I just...don't think it's safe for you to go."

"We'll be there, Lori, so it should be fine," Leni said, her brows knitted together at her roommates odd behavior. The fashionista knew that Lori of all people would've been joining in on the news which is why she was confused by her older sisters behavior.

"Yeah, but I don't think a fourteen-year-old should be in a place where everyone is at least two years older than her and at least twice her size. Besides, I'm going so I can keep an eye on Leni, I can't watch over both of you" she stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"But Lukey can keep an eye on her," Leni stated, her tone starting to come out as a whine towards her sister.

"I'm not even going, Leni," Luke stated, making everyone turn their heads toward him.

"Wait, what?! Dude, this is like one of the best parties of the year!" Luna exclaimed in pure shock before she was seemingly struck by an idea. "Give me your invite," she said, a smile spreading across her face.

"Why?" Luke asked, confused by the sudden request.

Lori easily catching onto what the rocker had planned, "Actually, that could work. Luna can go in your place, she _does_ look a lot like you," she said as everyone began to look between the older twins, easily seeing what the eldest Loud sibling was talking about. After a few moments passed between the two, Luke merely rolled his eyes and spoke.

"Alright, fine. Make sure you wear a good costume though, it _is_ a costume party afterall."

"Yes! Thanks, brah!" Luna exclaimed, practically bouncing in place at her brothers' agreement. The rocker easily went for a hug but stopped short when she remembered the earlier discussion and instead decided on giving a fist bump. Something that Luke greatly appreciated before easily returning the gesture.

The rest of the day was spent with the four highschool girls deciding to go to Lori and Leni's room to get fitted for costumes. A feat that would be easy for the fashion designer since they had more than enough time till the party tomorrow night. The younger siblings decided to take the time to get their own costumes ready for the tradition of trick-or-treating, something that caught Luke's attention was how he saw Lisa hand a vial to Lucy with the small goth nodding in appreciation before the two parted.

Knowing not to question things until they bore fruit, the brunette decided to pass the time by heading to the basement to work out. After the parents arrived home and dinner was made, the family of fourteen sat down to eat and talk as per usual. Conversations were normal as everyone was excitedly talking about tomorrow and what it would bring.

"Wait, if Luna's going in your place, then what are you doing tomorrow?" Rita asked, directing her gaze at Luke who was clad in his pajamas and a towel wrapped around his head, having showered after his workout.

"Oh yeah...now that you mention that. I'll be here with you two" Luke said simply before adding, "By the way, is it cool if some friends come over for a small get together? Berry and QT wanted me to come with them."

"Um...I suppose that's fine. Are you planning to use the basement?" Rita asked, looking at Lynn Sr who was looking back at her.

"Yeah, that should be fine. We're just planning to play a few games," Luke stated, looking around to see that none of his siblings seemed to even care about the conversation. Turning back to his food, Luke resumed eating but stopped upon Leni speaking up.

"I didn't think you had more friends, Lukey. I thought it was just QT," the platinum blonde said, causing everyone at the table to freeze and look at her. Mouths now slightly agape at her words and their unintentionally harsh phrasing.

"I do actually, they're just...how should I put this?" Luke started before seeming to be in deep thought until he found his wording, "I'm just the youngest in the group. They're all like college students or something like that."

"Ohhhh," Leni said before smiling brightly, "I can't wait to meet them!"

Smiling back, the two went back to their food and conversation with the others following shortly afterwards upon noticing there was no problem between the two teens. The rest of dinner went by without incident and soon, it was time for bed. One by one, the Loud kids brushed their teeth and went to their rooms.

Luke was making his way towards his room before a hand gently grabbed one of his own. Turning around, the brunette was met by the gentle smile of his older sister and then it dawned on him. Allowing her to tug him into the room, Luke kept his head down as he felt his face heat up a bit.

"Uh...so, where am I gonna sleep?" Luke asked, dreading the answer.

"In my bed, I'm pretty sure we can fit," Lori explained, sitting down on her bed. Luke uneasily followed suite as he sat down and kept his head down. "C'mon, Luke, it's just for a night so relax," Lori said as she rubbed his back.

"I'll try, just...don't be mad at me if my foot gets cold," Luke said, looking up at the blonde through his bangs before adding meekly, "Or if I cling to you in my sleep."

Lori just rolled her eyes at that before scooting up on the bed and laying down with Luke following behind her not too long later. Soon the lights were out and the sounds of snoring, both soft and chainsaw-esque, filled the house.

Day broke on a new day and soon the sound of small feet were starting to echo in the house. First they seemed to shuffle towards the room that belonged to the boys before the sound made its way towards the two eldest girls. A few moments passed before the sound of a door opening and the shuffling made its way towards Lori's side of the room.

"Pst...psssst," came a quiet voice, followed by a small pair of hands shaking the lump on the bed. The lump didn't move, so the actions were repeated quite a few times, until finally the lump moved and rose.

"Whaaaat?" came the tired whine of Luke as he looked and saw the wide-eyed expressions of his little sisters who were looking at him in confusion. Rolling his eyes, the teen climbed out of bed and left with them after replacing the covers for his temporary bunkmate who was currently drooling onto the pillow.

Leaving the room and taking time to close the door gently, the Loud siblings made their way downstairs for their usual routine of cereal and Saturday morning cartoons. Time continued to pass for the Louds as one by one, members of the house began to wake up and excitedly get ready for the day ahead. Save for Lynn Sr who had chosen to 'help Luke' with his get together, which was his way of preventing himself from seeing anything Halloween based.

Preparations were being made and plans were being set as the day continued for the Louds. Soon there were a few knocks on the door and upon it being answered by Rita, there was the sight of four young women. Two she knew fairly well while the other two were people she had never met before.

"Hey, Berry. QT. Who're your friends?" Rita greeted simply, giving a small wave to the two women.

"Hey, Mrs. L! Long time no see!" QT exclaimed, easily going for a hug, which Rita gladly gave. Turning towards the threshold, the now purple haired woman gestured to her companions, "These are Berry's roommates."

"Pleasure to meet you, I'm Trixie Tang," greeted the tall asian woman before she gestured to the purple haired, diminutive goth next to her, who was busy playing on her Super-Snap 95. Trixie easily elbowed the woman while keeping her smile, causing the purple goth to send her a glare. Noticing the blonde woman in front of her, the goth sighed heavily before speaking.

"Gaz."

The one word seemed to not phase Rita as she had experience due to Lucy. Shaking her head gently, the Loud Matriarch moved to the side to all the two to enter, to which they did with ease. Closing the door, Rita went back to her task of setting up the decorations while the three merely stayed put, having no idea what to do since Luke was nowhere to be seen.

"He's probably in the basement. C'mon, I'll lead you there," QT said as she hung up her jacket and made her way to the basement, the others easily following suit. Making their way down, the four were greeted by the sight of two brunettes playing ping pong rather intensely. Turning back to her companions, QT put her finger to her lips before continuing down the stairs.

"Goin' down, old man!" Luke exclaimed as he hit the ball back to his dad, who easily hit it back with the same intensity.

"I might be old, but with age comes technique!" Lynn shot back as he continued the game. Just as the ball made its way back to Luke, the teen recieved a surprise.

"Boo!" came a sudden voice, causing the teen to yelp before whirling around and swatting at the thing behind him. QT was hit full force by Luke's paddle in her face, causing her to almost fall onto the floor due to the unexpected swat.

"QT?! What the hell?!" Luke screeched, having calmed down from the sudden scare.

"...ow..." came the brunettes response as she rubbed her cheek.

"Well that was...unexpected," Berry said as she looked between her two friends, easily catching Luke's attention. The teen decided to turn to his other friend and greet her.

"Hey, Berry."

"Sup dude, meet my roommates." Luke raised an eyebrow at that before directing his attention to the two women and his eyes widened in shock upon noticing the darkly dressed woman. Gaz felt that she was being stared at and directed her glare in that direction before her own blue eyes widened.

"You!" she shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at the brunette, her face starting to turn red in both embarrassment and anger.

"You two know each other?" Trixie asked, looking between the two.

"Yeah...kinda. I'm on her ' _list'_ apparently" Luke stated, not taking his eyes off of the angry woman.

"Oh boy..." Berry sighed out as she realized how long of a night this was gonna be.

Meanwhile, upstairs, a certain goth was currently having her mouth examined by her mother. Rita at first thought it was merely her daughter wanting to get into the spirit of her favorite holiday early but after seeing Lucy eat without taking the props from her mouth, the mother got worried.

"Honestly, sweetie, wherever you found these, they're really well made," the Matriarch said as she ran a gloved hand over one of Lucy's seemingly elongated canines, "Almost seem entirely real."

"Tay re" spoke Lucy, trying to form a sentence with her mouth currently wide open.

"What was that, Lucy?" Rita asked, removing her hands from her goth daughters mouth.

" _Sigh_ , I said they are real. I had Lisa make me a serum that gave me fangs."

"Why? Wait, is it reversible?"

"Uh..."

Rita sighed at that answer, having expected it but still was slightly irritated by it. Before she could try to scold the goth for asking to have something very dangerous done to herself, the blonde was cut off by her husbands voice.

"Hey, hun," Lynn said, having made his way up to the ground floor after seeing his eldest son seemingly try to apologize to one of his guests. Turning to her husband, Rita was confused by his appearance.

"I thought you were gonna be down there all day," Rita said, causing Lynn to shake his head.

"I was but oh boy, our son gets up to some shenanigans by himself."

Rita raised an eyebrow at that before turning to Lucy, "You can go, but we'll talk about this later." The goth girl nodded and left without a word. Lynn looked at his wife, who merely shook her head before speaking, "What kind of shenanigans does he get up to?"

"Oh, well the most recent one was apparently, our eldest son, Luther Marie Loud, walked in on that girl, Gaz, when they worked together for the first time," Lynn said, stifling his giggle as he did so.

"Okay..?" Rita was confused by her husbands demeanour as he continued to try to finish explaining before failing to find the words and just laugh.

"No, no, Rita. You don't get it, she was changing when he walked in."

"Oh...oh! Oh no..." The matriarch responded, now realizing how Luke probably reacted if how he reacts at home when that happens. Rolling her eyes, the middle-aged blonde smiled while she shook her head.

"Alright mom, we're off!" cried Lincoln as he came into view clad in his typical, Ace Savvy costume. The rest of his sisters following behind him in their own costumes; Lynn Jr as a Lucha Libre, Lucy as Edwin, the twins starting the night as PB and J, and Lisa who had dressed up as a koala with Lily strapped to her back in a baby koala costume.

"Alright, Lincoln. Remember, keep an eye on them and be safe!"

"We will!" Lincoln said, followed by a small cacophony of 'goodbyes' from the others. Smiling to herself, Rita decided to now put out the bowl of candy near the door while she and Lynn sat on the couch. The two snuggled up to each other and put on a RomCom, for Lynn's sake, and just enjoy each others company only occasionally pausing to answer the door to hand out candy.

A couple of hours passed before there was a knock on the door and Rita got up but before she could answer it, Luan came running downstairs with her sister casually following behind her. Unintentionally moving her mom out of the way, Luan opened the door to Benny. The young boy dressed in a similar outfit to Luans, only without the lines at the side of his mouth.

"Hey, Luan, ready to go?" he asked, smiling brightly at his girlfriend. Luan and Benny had decided to go as a Ventriloquist and his dummy as their costumes, Lori in a red suit as a devil, and Leni in a white dress as an angel.

"Alright, everyone ready? Luke's still getting ready so he'll meet us there," Lori said, having established it with the family that Luna would be posing as Luke for the night since security wouldn't let her in if she wasn't. The group easily gave their confirmations before heading out, closing the door behind them.

Just as the Loud couple got settled into their seats and unpaused their movie, the sound of hurried footsteps made themselves known as Luna, clad in a rather convincing wig that was styled into Luke's very hairstyle as well as a blue suit with yellow shirt and black tie. "Alright, Rents, I'm out! I'll be back later!" the rocker announced as she made her way out the door.

"Huh...she does make a convincing Luke. Wonder if they've ever switched on us..." Lynn stated as he looked at the now closed door.

"Most likely, knowing those two," Rita responded before nuzzling into her husbands' arms.

Elsewhere, A redheaded teen had checked his phone again as he was waiting for more confirmation from his temporary allies. To say that Chet had expected to be given a chance to see Lori again, as well as get some revenge on Luke, he was incredibly surprised but also excited. He'd get to see the love of his life again and potentially get to have her back if things went well. Humming to himself, the teen continued to wait until finally another text chimed.

Smiling to himself, Chet double checked the cord he had set up, and was satisfied with it. "Tonight, I'll hopefully kill two birds with one stone" he said to himself before letting the heavy beat of the music carry him away.

Making it inside wasn't a problem for any of the teens as they showed their ID's and were allowed in by security. As soon as everyone was inside, they all practically dispersed into the crowd. Lori and Luna kept to their word as they easily kept tabs on their roommates but still had their own fun with their spouses.

"Man, we so owe your bro for this!" Sam exclaimed as she and Luna started to dance to the electronic beat.

"I know right! Can't believe, Broham didn't want to come," Luna replied easily.

"Oh well, his loss and our gain!"

"Hell yeah!"

Lori, surprisingly, was standing by the snack table with a cup in hand. While normally, the blonde would be having fun with her boyfriend, Bobby had to take Ronnie Anne to the haunted house which meant he wouldn't make it, much to Lori's disappointment.

"Well ain't this a surprise! Lori?" asked a masculine voice, causing Lori to look over and spot a redheaded teen in a circus strongman leotard.

"Uh...do I know you?" Lori asked, her eyes not even bothering to wandering over the well-built teen.

"Oh c'mon, you sayin' you don't recognize me, Sugar Lamb?" the teen asked, that nickname striking a cord in Lori as he said it. A feeling of recognition started to make itself known to the blonde and a name came to the forefront of her mind.

"Wait, Chet? Is that you?"

"The one and only!"

"Oh my gosh!" Lori exclaimed as she hugged her ex-boyfriend in glee. Seeing an old face was not what the teen expected as she broke from the hug, "How have you been?"

"Pretty good, what about you?"

"Ugh, as good as I can be. Living with eleven siblings and all that," Lori said, causing the two to jump into casual conversation to pass the time.

The party was in full swing once more people had shown up and soon it was resembling the party that most know it for. Music was played, dances were had, and candy was eaten while all the party goers had their fun and before long it was nearing its end as signalled by the lights coming up and a voice was heard on the stage with the DJ.

"Alright party people! Y'all having fun?!" Asked the MC, dressed in a simple Zombie costume. The response was immediate, a roar of applause was heard as the woman put a hand to her ear to hear the crowd. "Alright, alright! Let's settle down a bit, it's time to announce our costume winner for this years' Monster Mash!"

Again the audience gave their applause to the MC as they got more excited for the announcement, "DJ, drum roll please!" the MC said, getting what she asked for. As the sound played, a screen started to make itself known as it descended before finally displaying third place. A simple, yet classy, Fancy Sheet Ghost.

There was a ton of applause as the costumer made their way up the stairs, soon the sound resumed and displayed second place, A guy dressed as a Sexy Nurse. That got quite a few laughs as well as thunderous applause.

The sound resumed for a final time, a bit longer this time to make everyone a bit anxious but soon the anticipation was over and first place was displayed for everyone.

It was Luna.

Applause sounded as the picture of the disguised rocker in a rather photogenic pose was shown. Easily Luna made her way up the stairs and stood in the foreground, a bit ahead of the other two winners.

"Another round of applause for our winners, everybody!" The MC exclaimed before getting what was asked. The sound was cut off however, when something unexpected happened on the stage. In a mere few seconds, the audience went from excited and approving to shocked and disgusted as the stage, quite literally, exploded into a red mist.

The liquid coated the people on stage in the substance. The ghost, nurse, and MC were only barely hit as most of their costumes were still clean while Luna was covered entirely on the front by it. There were no words said as everyone looked on in stunned silence before someone spoke.

"Way to get _Carrie_ -d away there, dude!" That statement seemed to be the thing that broke the silence as everyone soon burst into laughter as the started to take pictures and point at the covered brunette while the Loud siblings and Sam all looked on in shock.

To say Luna was starting to get angered by the laughing was an understatement, it was a good thing that whatever this stuff was, it was was covering her face or else everyone would see how red her face was becoming. Getting fed up with the laughter, Luna stormed off stage and made her way to the door. Seeing her leave, the others easily following suit, worried at how upset their sister was.

Making their way outside, the Louds saw the rocker get on the moped she rode here on and drive off, heading home.

"Damn it..." Lori muttered under her breath, before turning to everybody, "Alright everyone, let's head home."

The rest of the group easily nodding to the blonde as they shuffled their way to the van, making her way to leave, Lori felt an arm wrap around her waist and pull her back. "Gonna leave without your parting gift, Sugar Lamb?" asked Chet as he turned Lori to face him before moving to try and plant a kiss on her lips. Seeing this coming easily, the blonde acted on instinct and drove her knee directly into the redheads crotch.

The muscular teen easily crumbled in front of the blonde who merely shot him a look of disgust before leaving, not wanting to waste her breath on him.

Chet laid there clutching his manhood as he watched Lori leave, a look of pain and anger etched across his face as he saw her get into her van and leave, heading the direction he saw Luke go.

"You'll regret that, _bitch_ " the redhead spat as he slowly got to his feet, a plan began to form in his head before he took his phone out and made a call.

 _ **Uh oh, looks like there's a storm heading for Lori, hope she's ready for it. That wraps the Halloween chapter, I hope you guys like it cause it was actually really fun to write this for you. Chet's cameo appearance was planned so far ahead that I was actually excited to get to it. Now have a happy and safe Halloween and until then, Stay Tuned Readers!**_


	12. Super Salty Gathering

Not So Loud...

 _ **Hey there, Readers! Hope you all are enjoying your Thanksgiving and Friendsgivings! I know I am! Now then, this chapter is gonna be one I hope you all enjoy and if all goes right, it'll be up on or the day before Thanksgiving. Without further ado, Enjoy!**_

 _Super Salty Gathering_

"How have you been, Luther?" Dr. Erkson asked her patient. The strawberry blonde easily looking at the teen as he fidgeted on the couch, Luke never being one to like going to see the woman. Despite how kind and understanding she was, the brunette never liked the idea of making his private thoughts verbal with anyone.

"I've been fine...a little tired but fine" Luke stated, his attention more on his hair than her.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Erkson shook her head slightly before speaking again, "Luther...we've gone over this, I can't help if you don't tell me anything."

"But I-"

"I've been your psychiatrist for almost six years, Luther. I can tell something's wrong and it worries me when you don't tell me, so please...tell me what's wrong" Erkson said, genuine concern in her voice as she spoke to the teen. It was true though, despite how often the professional wanted to remain distant to the boy, she found herself coming to care for the boy as if he were her own child.

Letting out his own sigh, the brunette teen had decided to voice his problems, "Well...a couple of weeks ago, the day before Halloween, someone put a realistic cougar mask filled with rotten meat in my fridge."

"Was it one of your siblings?"

"No...no it wasn't. It was in my minifridge at the school's tech booth."

"Ah," the strawberry blonde woman said, jotting down some things on her clipboard before speaking again, "How did you react to seeing this?"

"I kicked the theatre teacher in the head trying to jump out of a window."

That was a statement the woman hadn't been expecting, which was clear given the wide eyed expression on her face. "Are...are they alright?"

"She's fine, aside from a slight headache."

"Ah...that's good I suppose," The psychiatrist paused before collecting herself, "And how did this event make you feel?"

"Like...it was happening all over again..." Luke started, his eyes downcast from the memory "But this time it was worse."

"Worse? How so?"

"Like...if...if there was a second one I didn't see. Or as if it wasn't just the mother that had chased me and my siblings..." Luke spoke, Erkson noticing the teens demeanor starting to shift as he spoke, "It was like I was surrounded and..."

The middle-aged professional looked at her patient with worry at him trailing off as he did. What she saw still hurt to see, even in the six years she's been his psychiatrist, Luke was staring and subconsciously rubbing his left leg as tears began to well up in his eyes. It was always something that made the woman want to console the boy in front of her and shed her own tears.

When he had first come to her office after his incident, Erkson found herself consoling the small grade schooler who had a close brush with death. As the years passed and the two grew, Luke would never need consoling but was usually seen staring at his leg where the flesh ended and the metal began.

"Phantom pains?" Erkson asked, earning a nod from the teen who merely sniffled as he rubbed the limb. Standing from her chair, the professional made her way over to the teen and sat next to him, bringing him into a comforting hug.

Some time passed between the two before they broke the hug, Luke looked up into the woman's eyes and gave her a thankful smile. Erkson easily returned it as she released him and planted a kiss on his forehead in a way that reminded him of his mother. They stayed like that for a bit before something occurred to the older woman.

"I almost forgot," she said before shooting up from her seat and making her way over to the desk where she pulled a couple of things from her desk. One being a manilla envelope while the other was a small box, making her way back over, the Doctor sat next to the teen and presented the items to him. "Happy Birthday, Luther!" she exclaimed as a bright smile encompassed her face.

"Thanks..." Luke said as he eyed the presents he was given. His heart started to pick up as he stared at the envelope anxiously, "Is...is that...?"

"Open it and find out."

Nodding easily, Luke took the envelope from the table and looked at the front. His worst fear now being confirmed, it was an acceptance packet. A while back, Luke had put in a dozen or so college applications in hopes of going somewhere with good science departments and, as a joke, he applied for Lori's dream school, thinking he didn't have even a drop of a chance at getting in but was doing it to mess with his sister.

Here he stands now with a package in hand, the only one he's received, and the logo of Fairway University staring back at him. Hoping that this was a joke, the teen tore the package open and was greeted by reality.

'Congratulations!', 'Acceptance', and 'Fairway University' became burned into his mind as he read it. Time passed silently as Luke stared at the letter in horror. Shaking the fear, Luke sat the letter down before turning to his psychiatrist.

"I got in..."

"That's great news, Luther!"

"...to _Lori's_ dream college." The finished statement made all joy leave the woman as she noticed Luke's nerves. Realizing it now, she knew that Luke would have to tell the family. Shaking her head, Erkson gently put a hand on the teens shoulder.

"Luther, you know you have to tell them."

"No...I can keep a secret. I mean...I did it when I dated Carol, I'm sure I can keep something like this a lot easier."

Sighing, and knowing she was about to hit a nerve, the Doctor spoke about that logic, "And how did that turn out when they found out?"

That made Luke deflate entirely, his worried expression shifting to one of pain as he remembered what happened. Putting his hands in his lap, the brunette sighed before shaking his head, "It didn't end well...for anyone."

"So don't you think it'd be good to inform them?"

"Yeah...but I don't know when I should or even how I would." Luke began as he ran his hand through his hair, "I mean, I applied just to mess with Lori when I found out I was in her graduating class. Now though, it just feels...wrong."

"Wrong how?"

"Like...I don't know...like I'm stealing her glory. She's been wanting to go to Fairway since she was Lynn's age. And if she sees that I got in but she didn't...it'd crush her, and I wouldn't be able to handle that."

"Well, Luther, you sound like you love her like you love your mother."

"I..." Luke blushed at that, he had never thought of that before. It was no secret that everyone from Lincoln and down had seen Lori as a mother figure, Lola and Lily have even called her 'Mama' before. To the teens, Lori was just always a bossy older sister that's always been there for them. "I would say I just look up to her, despite a lot of things."

"If that's true then tell her, I'm sure she'll be just as happy to see one of her siblings being accepted" Erkson stated, smiling lightly at the teen.

"I'll think about it."

"That's all I can really ask that you do. Now, was there anything else you wished to discuss with me?" Erkson asked, receiving a head shake from the teen before he stood, took his presents and stuffed them into his pouch before making for the door with her not too far behind.

After hugging and giving their goodbyes, Luke got on his moped and made his way home. Hoping to still have time to hide his stuff before anyone else woke up today, he had left early in the morning and had gotten Lincoln to sit with the kids until he was back.

Walking through the front door, Luke was greeted to a sight he wasn't expecting to see. Lincoln was currently hogtied and gagged while the little ones were munching away at their cereal and watching cartoons. All of their attention was moved upon seeing their brother and they all excitedly waved at him, sans Lincoln.

Rolling his eyes, Luke waved back before making his way upstairs to his stuff presents in his hidden compartment. Once the task was complete, Luke dropped to the floor and grabbed the guitar case from under the bed. A gift that he had been hiding from a while from his twin for a while.

Unzipping the case, the brunette was greeted by the sight of a purple Chuck B-58, still pristine and awaiting use. Smiling to himself, Luke closed the case before picking it up and leaving his room. Making his way down the hallway, the teen was greeted to a voice suddenly crying out.

"Birthday tackle!" came the voice of Lynn as she charged towards her older brother. Expecting this, Luke clutched the case to his chest and performed a front flip over his charging bull of a sister. The act having surprised the girl and before she could correct herself, Lynn went crashing into the wall with a loud crash.

Rolling his eyes, Luke made his way over to Luna and Luan's room and knocked. After a couple of moments, the door was opened by a pajama-clad Luan, rubbing her eyes slightly, she walked out of the room and towards her brother.

"Morning, Big Bro..." she spoke, sleep still coating her voice as she wrapped her small arms around Luke, "Happy Birthday..."

"Thanks," the brunette said as he returned the hug. Breaking it, Luke stepped to the side to allow the jokester into the bathroom. Small benefit to the weekend, no long lines for the bathroom. Making his way into the room, Luke was greeted to the sight of Luna still sound asleep with what sounded like Metal blasting from her headphones.

Rolling his eyes, Luke set the case down beside his twins' drums before climbing up the small ladder to her bed, sliding onto the mattress space next to her, prop his head onto his fist, and waited. What seemed like hours had passed for the teen before he saw what he was waiting for, Luna began to stir and her eyes began to flutter open.

Soon the pair of green orbs opened and stared into Luke's matching pair. A moment passed before Luke spoke up, "Mornin' Lunes"

"Gah!" was the only thing the surprised rocker managed to get out before accidentally launching herself off of her bed and crashing to the floor. Looking over the frame, Luke saw his sister face down on the ground, smirking to himself, the male twin decided to mess with her a bit more.

"Man, I didn't expect to see the full moon out in the morning" he stated casually, prompting Luna to squeak before shooting up and covering her rear, a blush heavy on her face as she glared at Luke. Chuckling and deciding that he had enough for one day, the brunette made his way back to the ground towards his sister.

Standing up, Luna punched her brother lightly on the arm as she got her blush under control. "Not cool, brah..." she grumbled as Luke smiled at her before bringing her into a hug.

"Happy Birthday, Lunes" he said as he felt Luna wrap her arms around him.

"Happy Birthday, Luke."

The two stayed like that for a bit before they finally broke apart. Easily making his way over to the guitar case, Luke picked it up and handed it to Luna. A tradition the two had was to exchange gifts every birthday with each other first. As the brunette rocker took the case, an excited grin spread across her face as she set it down to open it.

Upon Luna seeing the guitar, her smile only grew brighter as she stared at it. Picking it up gently, the rocker made her way over to her amp and connected it. Taking a deep breath, Luna began to riff a few cords on it, simple ones at first before she built them up into more complicated ones. Coming to an amazing stop with her playing, Luna rushed to her brother and gave him another hug, this one being tighter than before.

"Dude, how'd you even get this?!" she exclaimed as they separated.

"I have my ways. I figured you wanted one since you were drooling over pictures of them last summer," Luke stated with a smile before making his way over to the drums before exclaiming, "Now let's break that puppy in properly!"

Taking the drum sticks and counting off, the two older twins had an impromptu jam session. Luna rocking out on her new guitar and Luke matching her on the drums, the two easily having fun and letting the loud rock music fill the house and become the alarm clock for the remaining sleeping members. Having their fun, the twins easily stayed busy jamming for a good hour or so before they were done.

"Woo! Bloody amazin, luv!" Luna cried as she threw up the horns with her fake british accent. Luke easily rolling his eyes at that before setting the drumsticks down as he did so, however, there was a knock on the door.

Coming in was a fully dressed Rita who looked at the two and spoke with a bright smile, "Happy Birthday, you two!"

"Thanks, Mom!/Ma!" the two Loud siblings spoke in unison.

"Get washed up and come downstairs, breakfast is waiting," Rita said before taking her leave. The two brunettes easily making their way for the door to wash up before heading down for breakfast, Luna had to stop by her room to give Luke his gift which was a pair of grey, and rather expensive looking, noise canceling headphones. Putting them around his neck, the two continued about their way to enjoy their breakfast.

Breakfast was as it always was in the Loud house, with the addition being that Luke and Luna were mostly the center of attention. Once the meal was done however, Luna excused herself to go shower and get dressed while Luke merely returned to the living room with the little ones and watched tv. Some time passed with everyone getting ready for the party that was going to happen later at the laser tag arena, as was the plan, and if he were being honest, Luke was excited.

Every year, the two brunettes always choose to do things they both like and this year they had decided on a fun game of laser tag as well as go karting. Once everything was ready, the Louds filed out of the house and into Veronica. The car ride was filled with everyone from Lynn Jr to Lynn Sr sharing embarrassing stories, and pictures, of the birthday twins which made the two's faces turn bright pink in embarrassment as the little one's laughed at the stories.

"Oh man, remember Luna's scene phase when she was thirteen?" Lori asked the teens, prompting hilarity from them, save for Luna herself, "Wait, I think I still have her yearbook picture from that year!" Lori said as she took out her phone and began to scroll through her gallery.

This got Luna's attention as she dove over the seat in an attempt to stop her sister. Making swipes at the phone that was being held outside of her reach, the rocker began to whine to her older sister in embarrassment.

"C'mon, dude, not _that_ pic..." Luna whined as she gave Lori her best puppy dog eyes to which the older blonde merely looked at her and continued to scroll. If anyone was curious on if the eldest daughter had the picture, they got their answer in the form of Luna letting out a cry of shock as she saw the item in question. Turning the screen to face everyone, the little one's merely let out similar looks of disgust as they saw their older sister.

"Yeesh Lunes, think you have enough purple in your hair?" Lola asked mockingly as she took in the picture.

"I didn't know you had lip piercings!" Lana declared, taking notice to the snake bites that were prominent on younger Luna's lips.

"Weren't they clip ons?" Luan asked, trying to remember how her roommate got the piercings.

"They weren't. Luke gave her piercings," Rita cut in, having easily remembered when she saw them for the first time and how quickly she punished the twins.

"Wait what?! You do piercings?!" Leni asked as she now looked at her younger brother. The platinum blonde's smile ever so present on her face as she looked at him.

"No belly button piercings, Lenora Loud." Lynn Sr declared as he drove, making the blondes smile drop and get a few laughs from the others. The rest of the car ride easily sliding into a comfortable dull roar of conversation, each consisting mostly of what they family was going to do once they got to the laser tag arena.

A few more moments passed in a blur before finally, the family of fourteen parked and made their way inside of the building titled ' _Pines' Putting, Karting, and Lasers_ '. Once inside, the Louds paid for entrance and let the kids easily scatter to enjoy themselves. Luna, Luke, Lynn Jr, and Lincoln made their way to the arena and donned their shades and vests. Being handed their blasters, the four made their way inside and were briefed on the rules that they all knew like the back of their hands.

The doors opened before them and the sound of blaster fire, shouting, and laughter filled their ears. Instantaneously, Luke and Luna took off like rockets while let out their war cries as they joined the fray. Lynn easily letting out her war cry and running in a random direction, leaving behind a rather bewildered Lincoln who was trying to make sense of how his _older_ siblings act more like children than he himself. Shrugging, the white haired boy let out a scream and ran in to have his fun.

The family easily enjoyed themselves for what felt like hours with each kid finding something to do that kept them busy. Some were enjoying a relaxing game of putt-putt, some were having fun in the laser tag arena, and the rest were currently racing around the large track that was set up.

Lucy and Lola were two people enjoying said thing. The small goth easily driving the go-kart around the track with surprising expertise while Lola merely enjoyed the feeling of the wind in her hair. What the two hadn't been expecting, however, was for Lana and Lisa to seemingly appear from nowhere and cut them off.

Swerving slightly to avoid a collision, Lucy and Lola were greeted with Lana saying, "Eat my dust, Spooky and The Pink!" before she seemingly sped up and around the corner with Lisa hanging on for dear life.

"After her!" Lola declared as she pointed at where Lana had disappeared, a scowl prominent on her face from the near collison. Lucy merely gripped the wheel harder before flooring it as much as she could.

"Well they're enjoying themselves," Lori said as she, Leni, and Luan looked at their four little sisters race around the track.

"I'll say, they keep going any faster and they'll probably get _veer to go_!" Luan joked, prompting the usual groan from her eldest sister as she laughed herself silly.

"Hey, guys, we might have a problem," Leni spoke up, looking entirely opposite of the track. The two sisters seemed a bit confused by this until they noticed what Leni had pointed out.

Carol had just gotten there. To make matters worse, however, she was there with someone who looked to be her boyfriend.

"Dang it! Why is she here?" Luan asked, looking over at the blonde girl in the distance.

"This won't end well. We _literally_ need to make sure Luke doesn't see her," Lori said, earning stern nods from her two sisters.

While the three seemed to formulate a plan, they failed to notice a certain brunette had just left the laser tag arena with his three siblings in tow. They were removing their items as they talked amongst themselves.

"Still can't believe all of those kids ganged up on you two," Lincoln said as he handed his items over to the booth operator.

"Well, it wasn't our fault that Luna and I are laser tag pros," Luke stated, making Luna simply nod her head in agreement.

"Yeah, Bro and I have been an unstoppable team since birth," Luna added, placing her arm on Luke's shoulder. The statement partnered with the action made Lynn simply roll her eyes as she muttered a simple 'whatever' with a small smile. The four easily sharing a good couple of laughs amongst themselves before a voice cut them short.

"Luke?" a familiar voice asked. The aforementioned brunette was now prompted to turn and face the voice, despite something in his mind screaming at him not too. Turning around, the twin was met with the sight of his ex-girlfriend. Carol stood a fair distance from him as she looked on in bewilderment, entirely not expecting to see her ex-'boyfriend' at a laser tag arena.

"H-hey, Carol," Luke stammered out, taking in her appearance as he did so. She looked amazing in her sweater and leggings combo. "What uh...what brings you here?"

"Oh, just...out, y'know," she said awkwardly as she tried to find something of interest aside from the teens sudden appearance.

"Ah...right...same here," the eldest Loud boy stated as he began to fidget.

"Cool..."

"Hey, are you coming or what? Next game's about to start in like five minutes," came a new voice as a tall brunette teen walked over with an extra vest in hand.

"Oh, sorry about that, I was just talking to...a friend from school," Carol said as she turned to the new teen and took the vest from his hand and began to put it on. Looking over, the teen noticed Luke and his siblings and decided to introduce himself.

"Hey there, I'm Adam. Carol's _boyfriend_. Pleasure to meet you," the teen, Adam, stated. He easily threw in his position in the blondes life as a deterrent towards Luke. Luke on the other hand, had felt a twisting pain erupt from his stomach and quickly take hold inside his heart.

"Pleasure to meet you, Adam. I'm Luke, Carol's..." The brunette paused, trying his best to find some words that he wouldn't choke on. A few uneven moments passed before he continued, "I'm a classmate of hers. I was actually just asking her about our math homework, I'm like stupid far behind on it."

"Oh, okay then, well I'm sure you'll get it done with ease. You seem like a smart guy," Adam stated as he shot Luke a warm smile. He only received a sullen nod from the brunette as Luke seemed to start to find his shoes interesting.

"Well it was nice seeing you, Luke!" Carol stated with fake enthusiasm as she began to tug Adam away to the arena.

After that encounter, Luke seemed to all but shut down for the rest of the day. Having retreated deep into his own mind as he tried to make sense of his own sudden and painful emotions. The family easily noticed this and tried to prompt a smile of some sort from the lad, to no avail. The day was soon brought the family back home and to the dinner table where there was a beautiful meal and dessert waiting for them.

The whole meal seemed to blur past as the kids finally found themselves getting ready for bed, Luke easily choosing to wait till everyone was done before going in himself. Once everyone had finished and gone to their rooms, Luke remained lying in bed awake, still trying to sort everything.

A buzz from his side had gotten his attention. Opening it, his was greeted to a couple of texts from Carol;

 _[ Hey, it's Carol, I know you probably don't want to read this but I just want to say I'm sorry you had to find out about Adam like that. I saw how hurt you were from it and it hurt me seeing it, so I'm sorry, Luther. I hope you can forgive me for how I treated you and how we broke things off. Happy Birthday...]_

 _[ I love you...]_

Those three words had been the final nail in the coffin for him. Luke shut off his phone and curled up into bed. The only sound to join Lincoln's soft snores was the sound of choked sobs that night.

A couple of weeks had passed by since the older twins had their birthday and the Loud House was beginning to get prepared for a new family tradition. Since Bobby and Lori wanted to spend Thanksgiving with each other this year, Lisa had proposed that the couple just have one big family gathering, to which the two love birds happily agreed.

Decorations were being placed and food was being cooked as the Louds made their home presentable for the guests they were going to get later that day. Most of the kids were helping set up the dining room or hanging decorations while others were setting up the living room for the after dinner fun.

"Are you sure the Casagrande's wouldn't mind karaoke after eating?" Lincoln asked Lori, the eldest sibling not hearing his question at first. "Lori?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah...karaoke is fine. Bobby says they wouldn't mind it at all," Lori answered, having realized she had been asked a question. The teen had been glued to her phone all day as she and Bobby had been planning all day and both were practically sweating bullets with how nervous they were.

"Lori, calm down already. Sheesh, you're having dinner with them, not being interrogated," Lincoln said as he noticed how much the girl was worrying.

"I can't calm down! This is the first time I'll get to meet them in person and I don't want to screw this up!" the blonde exclaimed.

"You'll do fine. If they're the people who raised someone like Bobby, then I'm sure they'll love you just as much as he does," Lincoln reassured her, bringing a small smile to her lips.

"And if they don't, then maybe you two could become like Romeo and Julliet," piped in Lucy, prompting a yelp from her two older siblings as they practically jumped out of their skins.

"Lucy! Stop doing that!" Lori cried, her hand over her chest as she tried to calm her heart. The small goth easily just shrugged at her older sister before walking away to continue with the preparations. Her journey was cut short however, when Lincoln called out for her.

"Hey, Luce, wait a sec," the young boy called out, making Lucy turned to him silently. "You think you can see if Luke's awake?" the white haired boy asked simply, receiving a nod from the girl before she made her way upstairs.

"Is he okay?" Lori asked, her attention now having shifted at the mention of her brother. The past couple of weeks had been rather tense for the family, ever since the incident at their birthday. Luke had all but become a recluse, only leaving the house to go to school and work but even at those places it was obvious he was operating at full capacity.

"I don't know...it's starting to scare me. Luke's always bounced back from worse, what made this so different?" Lincoln asked, looking to his oldest sister for the answer.

Lori took longer than she had liked to figure out an answer to that question. While she had her share of heartbreak, Lori knew that she and Luke operated very differently with their emotions. From what little she had even been able to get out of the brunette, Luke was currently dealing with the fall out from a delayed realization. Something that none of the others in the family could completely understand.

Collecting her thoughts, Lori finally answered, "This isn't something that anyone can bounce back from easily, Linc. He just needs time to process it all."

The white haired boy still seemed confused a bit at that but he took his sister's words to heart.

While the two of them had their conversation, the family goth was currently making her way into the locked room of her brothers via ventilation system. Upon getting to her location, she pulled the grate to the side, allowing it to dangle from a single screw as she slid her way out and onto the desk below her and with incredible agility, Lucy was able to land without much sound.

Climbing down from the desk, she walked over to the bottom bunk that currently held the unmoving lump of her oldest brother. Making her way over, the little girl spoke, "Luke, are you awake? The Casagrandes will be here any minute."

She got no response from the lump.

" _Sigh_ Luke...I know you're awake."

No response.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Lucy sprung for Plan B. Sorting through where she knew Luke kept his hair ties, the goth plucked a black one out and tied her hair back into a small ponytail, revealing her mismatched eyes. Once her hair was secure, Lucy walked over to the lump before climbing into the bed and over the lump. Snaking her fingers around where the covers over Luke's head, Lucy grabbed two fistfuls of them and pulled with all her strength.

In, surprisingly, one tug, the covers flew off and revealed a large mass of brown hair as well as a single green eye that looked off to the side. "Luke, I know how safe it feels to wallow in the darkness. Especially when it's by myself but you _have_ to get up," Lucy said as she looked at her quiet brother, her words meaning only being cemented by the look of worry dancing across her exposed eyes.

The green eye only looked at her for a moment before he looked off to the side again.

"Please, Luther...for me?" Lucy slightly begged, her eyes boring into her brother as she spoke. For Lucy, Plan B, when it came to her eldest brother, was always using her eyes to express her worry to him. Given the fact that she, as well as all the younger sisters, were the only one's Luke hardly, if ever, actually said no to when they were worried about him.

The brunette looked over at her with his single eye before shutting it and sighing. Lucy smiled a bit, knowing she had won again. Luke began to sit up and swing his legs over, climbing out from his bed and stretching.

Looking at his little sister, Luke rolled his eye before replacing the vent and leaving the room. Getting up from his bed, Lucy removed the tie from her hair and followed after him. Making their way downstairs, everyone seemed to stop what they were doing to take notice of the missing Loud sibling.

"Glad you could join us, Luke," Lynn Sr said before wincing at his choice of words. Moving past him, Rita made her way over to her son and wrapped him in a warm hug before reeling back upon catching a whiff of him.

"You could use a shower, sweetie," She said as she gave Luke a heartwarming smile. The brunette merely nodded his head before turning heel and making his way back upstairs, Rita in tow as to make sure he didn't retreat back to his room. A few minutes passed before the sound of a shower filled the house.

"Well that was..." Lynn Jr began before trailing off as she tried to find the right word.

"Awkward?" Lola asked simply, receiving a nod from the young athlete.

"Well yeah it's gonna be awkward, dudes. I'm pretty sure he wanted to be by himself today," Luna said, her gaze focused mostly at the stairs as she thought about her twins haggard appearance.

"Maybe being with family will cheer him up a little..." Leni voiced, worry lacing her tone as she did so.

"Maybe...let's just hope noone pokes the hornets nest with him," Luan said, earning a collective group of nods from everyone. Just as everyone felt themselves slip into uneven silence, there was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it," Lori said as she made her way over with everyone else going back to their tasks. Opening it, the blonde was greeted by the unexpected sight of her cousins, Uncle, Aunt, and Grandma. "Grammy!" Lori exclaimed before hugging the elderly woman.

"Hey there, kiddo" Grammy responded as she gave her eldest granddaughter a hug.

"Come in! Come in!" Lori said, letting go from the hug before ushering everyone in.

"Where's your father?" Grammy asked as she took off her jacket.

"Oh, he's in the kitchen. C'mon, I'll take you to him." With that, Lori and Grammy left the room to go speak to Lynn Sr. Meanwhile the remaining four guests had decided to make themselves at home with Remmy and Ohpelia plopping onto the couch and watching tv, much to everyone's chagrin at the lack of help. RJ had simply taken made his way back outside to shoot around with a basketball. Camille, however, seemed to be the only one who wanted to help as she was currently helping Luna and Luan continue to set the table.

Some time had passed before Luke and Rita appeared back downstairs, the blonde surprised by her brother-in-laws sudden appearance. Luke easily not caring and opting to grab a soda and wait on dinner.

"Remus, Ophelia, pleased to see you again," Rita said falsely as she now hoped that she was dreaming.

"Rita! How are you, darling?" Ophelia asked as she got up from the couch and made her way over to the blonde. The mother of twelve felt her muscles tense as her sister-in-law got closer, preparing for the inevitable conversation of beauty products and wardrobe remodels.

As Ophelia dragged Rita into an unwanted conversation, the sound of something breaking from outside caused everyone to stop what they were doing and go onto the porch. Peeking outside, everyone saw the shattered upstairs window of Mr. Grouse's house and the aforementioned elderly man coming outside to see what the noise was.

Looking up, the elderly man shouted at the teen boy who merely held an aloof look as he was reprimanded for his destruction. Before the shouting could continue however, Camille made her way passed her family and over to the elderly man.

"Sir, I'm sure my idiot brother didn't mean to break your window" she said as she held up her hands in surrender. "Please don't be too angry at him," she pleaded.

"Nah, I totally meant to break it," RJ said as a smile broke across his face, much to everyone's surprise. The response easily getting a rise from the man as he went back to shouting at the teen who's smile didn't falter.

As this went on however, a couple of cars pulled up to the Loud residence and from them came a family. Not just any family however, the family of Bobby, The Casagrandes.

Lori felt her face drain as she saw them look over to the spectacle happening in the driveway. Swallowing the lump that formed in her throat, she made her way over to them and greeted them.

"Babe!" cried Bobby as he moved passed his family to greet his girlfriend. Hearing his voice brought a smile to the blondes face as she wrapped her arms around him when he hugged her. The sight making everyone sigh a bit, maybe the whole day was still salvageable.

Once introductions were made for the Casagrandes, via Bobby, everyone filed into the house. Save for Lynn Sr, who was currently talking to Mr Grouse about the broken window. Getting comfortable, everyone began to split off into groups as they all mingled while the chefs, now three in total once Rosa stepped into the kitchen, went about cooking the last of the food.

Luke had opted to lean against a far wall while he saw everyone have fun and get to know each other. Sipping on his second soda, the brunette felt someone poke him on the arm, much to his annoyance. Turning to look at the person, he was surprised to see Camille standing there, a look of worry etched on her face.

"You seem down," she said as she leaned against the wall with her cousin.

"I'm tired is all, was up all night playing online with some friends," Luke lied as he took another sip. Camille didn't buy it, even with a decade of distance between them, she knew when her cousin was lying.

"Is that all?"

"Camille..." Luke said flatly, catching the girl off guard. "Drop it..."

"I...okay," the blonde said, she knew better than to press her cousin on things he didn't like talking about. Shaking her head, the teen changed topics when she spoke again, "Sorry we didn't make it to your birthday."

"'S okay. We didn't really do stuff that you'd like anyway," Luke said, earning a raised eyebrow from his cousin.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Camille asked, sounding offended at what she assumed was her cousin insulting her.

"We did Laser Tag and if memory serves right, you've got two left feet when it comes to anything exercise related," Luke stated matter of factly as he looked at his cousin. The aforementioned blonde only guffawed at that.

"As if! If _I_ remember right, I used to run laps around you when we were kids."

"Pfft yeah, right before you fell face first on the ground and cried about scraping your knee." The two's conversation continued like this, with Luke beginning to smile at having someone to take his mind off of what was bothering him for the past couple of weeks. All conversations were ceased when the declaration of food was made and everyone crowded around the table to feast.

Conversations were beginning to be had while everyone ate. Jokes were made, stories were shared, and bonding amongst everyone was going well until a certain former boxer spoke up.

"So Luke, you still wanna be a scientist? Or have you finally decided to follow in a real man's footsteps?" Remus asked as he pointed to himself, causing all conversation to cease. Jaws were dropped from the unexpected question as all eyes quickly turned to the brunette in question who had set his fork down and looked at his Uncle.

"No, I decided to become an engineer. I'm better with making mechanical stuff than chemicals," Luke answered nonchalantly as he went back to his food.

"But why bother with all that stupid crap when you could easily just become a fighter like me and your cousin. It'd be a lot easier, and you'd be raking in the cash faster than just being some bookworm."

Upon that being said, both Lisa and Carlos made a move to say something but were stopped by those who were sitting next to them.

"That may be true but if I remember right, you dropped out of highschool as a freshman since you couldn't understand basic math and science. Something that even Lincoln understands and he hasn't even started middle school," Luke said before going back to his food. Remus made an attempt to say something but was cut off when Luke started to speak again.

"Also, why would I bother being a fighter when I'm already on track to graduate with Lori, so I'm already ahead of schedule for highschool," Luke finished before he scooped up some stuffing and ate it.

"Pft, doesn't mean anything. Graduate early? Big deal," RJ added, a smug grin on his face as he decided to voice his opinion.

"That's where you're wrong, my dear, moronic cousin. You see, graduating early means that I get to start college early," Luke said, a smug smile etching onto his face as he saw RJ glare at the slight insult. Luke felt his confidence in the disagreement swelling as it went on and before he could stop himself, he spoke, "And before you two say anything else to make you look like a pair of brain dead meat slabs, I've already been accepted into a college."

The moment the words tumbled from his mouth, Luke felt his eyes widen as everyone erupted into applause. Before he had a moment to try and backtrack, questions were asked and he knew he had doomed himself.

"You got accepted?! Oh My Gosh!" Leni cried as she and a majority of the people at the table let out their own cries of joy.

"When did this happen?" Rita asked as she smiled brightly at her son.

"And where'd you get accepted?" Lynn Sr followed up.

"Uh..." Luke started before looking around, noticing that everyone, save for RJ, Remus, and Ophelia, was staring at him in anticipation. Looking over, he felt his chest clench as he saw Lori smile at him, genuine joy expressed on her face. Biting the bullet, Luke answered the questions, "Well...I found out a couple of weeks ago."

He paused before swallowing the lump in his throat and answering the big question, "And I was accepted into Fairway..."

Closing his eyes, Luke braced himself for the sounds of anger that he'd be getting from Lori, instead though, he heard his eldest sister squeal with joy at hearing the answer. Opening his eyes, he saw Lori practically bouncing in her seat at the news. Confused, Luke asked, "Wait you're not mad?"

"Mad? Why would I be mad?! My little brother is going to Fairway with me!" she exclaimed, only earning a confused stare from him before it morphed into surprise.

"Wait...you got in?" Luke asked, getting a rather enthusiastic nod from Lori. The gesture causing the boy to chuckle before it transformed into a hearty laugh as he almost fell out of his seat. "Oh man! You've gotta be kidding me! I was worried for nothing!"

Hearing the laughter caused everyone to merely join in before dinner had returned to its joyous atmosphere. Remus still sulking with his son and wife while Camille joined in on the fun.

Dinner soon finished and the large gathering of people moved to the living room where a game was watched, terrible karaoke was done, and good times were had. And one brunette teen was amongst the assortment of people with a smile on his face as he forgot about his troubles for the rest of the day.

 _ **And thus we conclude another chapter, hope you all liked it! Seems like Luke was able to get passed one problem that turned out not to even be one. And with that, Luke and Lori are now on the fast track to Fairway, pursuing different paths. As I said at the beginning, though, I hope you all are having a good holiday and are all safe. Happy Thanksgiving! And Stay Tuned Readers!**_


	13. The Greatest Gift

Not So Loud...

 _ **Happy Holidays, Readers! Hope you're enjoying yourselves this season! Now, this chapter will be the same with it hopefully being up on Christmas. If all goes as planned, I should also have a gift for you guys as well for staying around for this long. Now without further ado, Enjoy!**_

 _The Greatest Gift_

" _Wooo!_ " exclaimed an excited Lincoln as he jumped from Vanzilla as it parked in the driveway of the Loud House. "Finally, Winter Break!" he hollered as he pumped his fist in the air.

"I feel ya, brah," Luna stated as she, along with the other sisters, made her way towards the house. They had dropped Luke off at work once school let out, leaving Lincoln by himself for his first day of break.

Not wasting anytime, the white haired boy made his way inside and towards his room where he grabbed his sled and left out the backdoor. This was the main thing the boy was looking forward to all day, wanting to test out the math that Luke had done for him earlier. The young Loud boy has been wanting to test this out since the first snowflakes began to stick to the ground, getting the most air possible on his sled. Something that he had attempted to do last year but had only ended up getting his sled taken from his by Mr. Grouse.

"Alright, let's see here..." Lincoln started as he unfolded the paper he was given. Looking at it, Lincoln could only see numbers that barely made sense to him as well as a decent drawing of him on his sled. "...maybe I should get Lisa to help me on this..." Lincoln muttered before planting the aforementioned object into the snow and heading inside.

Meanwhile, across town, Luke was currently sitting in Gus' office with the owner as well as another elderly man. The oldest Loud boy and this man stared at each other with equal disinterest, the air between them was familiar yet tense.

"Is the construction finished, Rupert?" Luke asked the man, garnering a growl before he responded.

"That's _Tetherby_ to you, brat!" Lord Tetherby spat as he glared at the teen who seemed unafraid of his tone.

"It's Rupert until your half of the deal is finished." Luke spoke evenly before leaning forward slightly and speaking in a cold yet sophisticated tone, "Now answer my previously mentioned question."

Grinding his teeth together, the elderly man answered, "Yes it is."

"Good. _Very_ good. A bit closer than I wanted it to be but so be it."

"Now then, Luther, about our method of payment..." Tetherby began, Luke easily picking up on the tone.

"The limo is waiting to be picked up by Kirby. I even had heated seats installed for you, since you only like sitting on cold, hard cash."

"Is that all?"

Luke sighed at that, before reaching into his pocket and producing a ring, "I also got this back from your third ex-wife. Took a lot of doing but here," the brunette handed the ring over before standing from his seat as Tetherby did the same.

Soon the two shook hands and the elderly man saw himself out, pocketing the ring and being glad that his deal was done. Once he was out of earshot, Luke let out a heavy sigh and collapsed back into his chair.

"Well that was impressive. Never thought I'd ever see someone go toe-to-toe with Rupert," Gus said, the first words he uttered since the rich man was entered the room.

"Yeah..." Luke said, defeat in his tone.

"Everything okay? You seem down, Luke," Gus said as he looked at the teen.

"It's just...I had to become... _it_...again, and I really didn't want to have to do that."

"You did what you had to...and if it's any compensation, I think you scared him a little bit," Gus stated as he gave his employee a warm smile.

"Yeah...thanks, Old Man."

Back at the Loud House, Lisa was finishing her explanation to her older brother as simply as she could while also making sure to double check the math that Luke had done.

"And thusly, if you pull the sled back approximately twelve degrees, you should achieve maximum lift," the small genius concluded in her usual matter-of-fact tone. Once she was done, the genius looked at her brother and was happy to know that he had followed along.

With a nod, Lincoln gave the genius a hug and a cry of thanks as he left to use the knowledge he was just given. A small smile made its way onto her face as she turned back to her whiteboard and admired its complexity.

"Alright, let's do this!" cried Lincoln as he pulled his sled from the snow and made his way to the top of the slide. Taking a deep breath, the white haired boy began to run through the instructions he had been given and began to let the sled go down the slide. Doing as Lisa said, the boy lifted up slightly and had easily achieved what he had been wanting since the first snowfall. The Loud boy had gotten the air he wanted but as he soared, something dawned on the lad.

He didn't know how to stop.

Screaming at the top of his lungs, Lincoln cleared the fence of his yard, holding onto the rope as tightly as he could. Once he was over, the boy realized that he needed to bail before he got seriously hurt but just as he was letting go of the rope, someone came around the corner.

Eyes going wide, Lincoln began to call out to the person. Seemingly grabbing their attention, they turned towards the source and were surprised to see a red sled, with a grade schooler sitting on it, flying towards them. The person only had enough time to let out a shocked gasp before they were collided into and sent tumbling along side the boy and his sled.

The crash seemingly was loud enough to prompt some of the Loud sisters to come rushing outside and taking in the sight before them. Lincoln had landed on the person with his sled on their head but before anyone could move or speak, the person suddenly sprung to life and threw the boy off.

"Get offa me!" came a female voice as the person got up to dust themselves off in frustration.

"Maggie?!" cried Lynn as she ran over to her friend, the emo moving her gaze from her snow-covered coat to her friend.

"Hey."

"Hey?! Don't 'hey' me! Are you two okay?" Lynn asked, concerned for her friend and little brother. Contrary to how she behaves most of the time, the young athlete knew when to drop her tough girl act when someone could be really hurt.

"I'm good!" came a muffled response from Lincoln, who had face planted when Maggie had thrown him off of her.

Huffing in irritation, Maggie merely nodded, getting a relieved sigh from Lynn. Walking past her, the brunette helped her brother out of the snow, "How'd you even get over here , Linc?" Lynn asked as Lincoln pulled his sled from the snow.

Without missing a beat, the white haired boy took the paper from his pocket and showed it to his older sister with Maggie looking over her shoulder in curiosity. A moment of silence passed before the sports fanatic clicked her tongue and handed it back to her brother.

"Twelve degrees on lift, more than that on landing or else you'll end up flying off somewhere," The brunette said with ease, causing the jaws of her friend and brother to drop open in shock. Seeing this, Lynn rolled her eyes and answer their obvious question, "I'm a math wiz, remember? Won a whole math competition last summer and everything."

It clicked for Lincoln instantly, remembering when the Yates had moved in and his parents had started to worry for their futures. It was the summer where a lot of the kids had shown their knack for things outside their usual repertoires. The only thing that surprised everyone more than Lynn's hidden mathematical genius, was Lucy's natural proficiency with sports.

"Oh yeah! Now I remember!" Lincoln exclaimed, earning an eye roll from his older sister. Giving him a light punch on the shoulder and a smile, the young brunette turned and made her way back to the house with Maggie in tow. Smiling to himself, Lincoln lightly jogged back behind the house, with his sled in tow, to give his new information a try again.

Once inside the house and out of her winter clothes, Lynn made her way over to the couch with the emo teen taking the chair. Getting comfortable, Maggie was handed the remote but was stopped when a shrill voice shouted from upstairs.

" _Lana!_ " came the voice, one that Lynn knew well, as the aforementioned blonde came barreling down the stairs followed closely by her sister. The two ran around the living room and dining room, the tomboy of them smiling brightly while the princess had a look of pure rage. The chase continued for a while longer before Lola had finally caught her twin. The two of them soon began to roll around as Lola made an attempt to bite and scratch at her look-alike.

Sighing in frustration, Lynn got off the couch and took Maggie's hand. Pulling the emo from the chair, the brunette made her way up the stairs, greeting Luna who was on her way down, before taking a right turn. The direction confused the raven haired teen, since she had only ever really seen Lynn's room. Without any form of discretion, the sporty teen threw the door to a room open and the two were greeted to a small room filled with some pieces of technology and comics scattered about.

"Lynn, who's room is this?" Maggie asked calmly as she continued to look around.

"Luke and Linc's."

"Okay. And we're in here because...?"

"Because my older brother has a computer we can watch videos on. And since he's at work, we're gonna spend time chillin' in here," Lynn said as she closed the door and made her way over to the desk. Firing the tower up, the teen easily put in a password for an account that Luke had made for her. The oldest Loud boy knew that he couldn't stop the athlete or her poet roommate from using the item if they actually wanted to, so he easily set up accounts for them.

Once the password had been put in, a candid picture of Eric Oakriver, from Boyz Will Be Boyz, appeared on the screen. Letting out a squeak of embarrassment, the brunette quickly opened the web browser and began searching for _WebFilmz_. A moment of silence passed before it was broken by a giggle. Snapping around, Lynn was met by the sight of Maggie trying to stifle her laughter at seeing what her wallpaper was.

"Shut it!" Lynn barked, her cheeks turning bright red.

"Never!" Maggie giggled back, much to Lynn's chagrin. With a small hmph, the brunette merely crossed her arms as she began to pout. If she were being honest, she knew that she was being childish but she also knew it was embarrassing to have let her friend see her celebrity crush. At least it beats how Lucy reacted when Lynn found her _Princess Pony_ stash in her coffin. Lynn still tried to make it up to the little goth to this day since she had teased her little sister about her secret until the goth had cried.

Sighing to herself, Lynn uncrossed her arms and turned back to her friend, "Don't judge. You like Chip Skylark."

The emo's giggling was brought to a sudden halt when the artists' name was dropped as a blush made its way onto her cheeks. This made Lynn smile which in turn made her friend smile back and mutter, "Touché."

At the word being muttered, the two let out their stifled laughter as they let the embarrassing atmosphere fade out. Soon their laughter died down, Lynn turned back to the monitor and began to put on a Christmas-themed horror movie before getting onto the bed with Maggie to relax.

The Loud House became filled with its usual array of sounds as time passed for the family. At one point, the sole member who wasn't present had decided to go see a movie with his friends and the younger boy of the family had been 'persuaded' by Lynn to stay downstairs while the two teens continued to watch their movies. Needless to say, everyone was having their fun and enjoying the beginning of the vacation.

After sometime, dinner had been made and everyone crowded around the table, enjoying each others company. A door was soon heard being opened and quickly closed and after some rustling, the person revealed themselves to be a slightly tired Luke.

"Luke's home!" cried Lana excitedly, as she usually did whenever he got home from work. The brunette teen merely gave a tired wave to the family as he leaned against the doorway to speak to them.

"Hey, everyone, sorry I was late."

"Nonsense, Luke, you're right on time. I'll get you a plate!" Lynn Sr said as he moved to get up, only for Luke to stop him with ease.

"Nah, it's cool Pa. I already ate, I'll just head to the living room if you need me," the teen said as he turned to leave but stopped upon seeing an unfamiliar pair of eyes peering at him. Looking over, he noticed an emo teen sitting next to his athletic sister and in that moment, some distant memory surfaced a bit for him. Making his way over, he got a clearer sight of the girl's face as she did his and the brunette felt his eyes widen in surprise as it clicked.

"Wait a sec...Margaret Aderson?" Luke asked, earning a few shocked expressions from his family, one of those looks belonging to Lynn Jr herself.

"Yeah...?" Maggie answered in confusion.

"Oh man, I wasn't expecting you to be here! How have you been?" Luke asked, only earning an even more confused look from the emo before he clarified, "You don't remember me? We used to be dance partners when we were kids!"

That proclamation seemingly turned Maggie's confusion into surprise as she leapt out of her seat and stood in front of the older teen to get a good look at his face. A memory surfaced into the forefront of her mind of a brunette boy scaring some bullies away from her as well as the memory of doing a rather impressive, if not slightly awkward, waltz with that same boy. Without thinking, the emo brought her hand up to the boy's hairy cheek and spoke.

"Lou?" she asked, now beginning to stare into his green eyes as he simply nodded. The gesture brought a smile to her face as she removed her hand before wrapping her arms around the teens waist and nestled her face into his chest.

Once the two had their hug, dinner was quickly finished and the two old dance partners' spent a good amount of time talking at the dinner table, much to Lynns' chagrin at having her friend seemingly stolen away from her. The two merely talked about almost everything that's happened in the past six years for them.

This went on for almost an hour before Maggie had stifled a yawn, which was a sign that their conversation was over. Saying their goodnights and going through their nightly routines, the two parted. Maggie making her way down to the living room where she saw Lynn texting someone with a slight frown.

"Who are you texting?" Maggie asked as she sat next to her friend, only to receive a side glance.

"Margo," Lynn answered curtly, surprising Maggie a bit at her tone.

"That's cool..." Maggie said, now worried for her friend. She only received a grunt from the athlete in response. A moment of awkward silence passed between them before Maggie spoke again, "Is something wrong, Lynn?"

"No."

At that, the emo opened her mouth to call her friend out on her behavior, but quickly shut it when she knew that the smaller brunette would only keep giving her one worded responses. Sighing heavily, Maggie turned on the tv and waited for sleep to take her since she knew that trying to talk to Lynn would be pointless at the moment.

The following days seemed to fall into a pattern after that with all the Loud kids enjoying their break, Luke and his parents heading out to work, and good times merely being had all around. Soon the day before the big one had arrived and as usual, the family's traditions began early.

"Raina...why are you in a straitjacket?" Luke asked as he looked down at his older sister who was currently sat on the couch with her arms bound in said item.

"So I don't go crazy and open the presents..." Lori said as she stared off at the hanging stockings with a look of longing.

"Yeah, we wouldn't want Lori to be _elfish_ and open the gifts!" came Luan as she popped her head over the sofa with a bright smile, earning a groan from the two siblings. "Hohohoho! That's one!"

"Do you have to do this every year, Luan?" Luke asked as he stared at his comedienne sister.

"Oh c'mon, Luke! You just have to deal with eleven _myrrh_!" Luan said before ticking her counter again, "Hohohoho! That's two!"

"Didn't you do that one last year?" Lori asked in slight irritation at the puns.

"I did...but its a _yule-time_ favorite of mine!" Luan cried, "Hohohoho! That's three! Man I'm just _sleigh-in'_ it right now!" the jokester said as she ticked her counter a couple of times while clutching her gut, "And that's four!"

At this point, Luke had just thrown his hands up in defeat and walked off, leaving Lori there to deal with Luan and her puns. Making his way upstairs, the brunette was stopped by the familiar sound of humming and guitar strumming. Following the sound, Luke found the source easily and walked into the room of his twin as she casually strummed away at an acoustic guitar before pausing to write something down.

"How's the song coming?" Luke asked, earning his twins attention.

"It's comin' along nicely," the rocker said as she looked at her brother before patting the spot next to her. Luke, knowing what she was asking, climbed up and sat next to her as Luna sat the guitar to the side and turned to him a bit more. "How ya feelin, Lu?" She asked with a soft smile.

The teen knew what she was asking, since it was a question she asked every year. A common tradition that Luke has had for the past six years was that he always disappeared from the family for the entire day of Christmas and always returned early morning the next day. While at first, Rita and Lynn Sr were concerned, they had an inkling of why the boy did it and decided not to question it.

"I'm fine. Same as usual, I guess," the brunette said with a shrug. A look of indifference spread across the boys' face as he stared at the far wall. Seeing this, Luna leaned over and gave her brother a light peck on the cheek, surprising him.

"Well if you ever aren't fine, my door is always open if you ever wanna talk," the teen girl said as she gave her brother a small, yet warm, smile. "Never forget that we love you, Luke."

"What's with the sudden affection?" Luke asked as he stared at his twin.

"Don't know, maybe I just wanna have Christmas with all of the family this year," The rocker said, before muttering out dejectedly, "...since it might be the last one with all of us..."

Luke, who had caught the second half of the statement, gave a small smile as he realized where Luna's sudden affection was coming from. "Just cause Lori and I are heading off to college next year, doesn't mean we won't come home for Christmas."

"I know but...maybe I'm just being stupid..." Luna trailed off, quickly wiping tears from her eyes before they fell.

"You're not. I get where you're coming from..." her brother began before letting out a deep breath, "We've been together since birth and it'll be weird not hearing you screech like a banshee at seven in the morning when you get inspired."

Luna playfully nudged him with a soft chuckle, Luke easily sharing it with her before continuing, "But I guess it was bound to happen one day. Hell, I made peace with the idea of you leaving once you hit it big and choose to not look back."

" _If_ I hit it big..."

" _When_ you hit it big," Luke spoke with finality in his tone. While slightly taken aback at the stern tone, Luna felt touched at the fact that he believed in her. Smiling a bit, Luna rested her head on Luke's shoulder as tears began to fill her eyes as she finally began to make peace with what was approaching once they got back to school. In one semester, something that'll be over sooner than she could think, she would see two of her siblings receive their diplomas.

"P-Promise to at least call if you can't make it...I'll miss you two so much..." Luna said shakily as the tears finally began to spill from her eyes.

"I promise."

Luna nodded softly at that before beginning to sob quietly, Luke gently bringing her into a hug as the rocker let it out. A few minutes passed between the two before she composed herself, wiping away the tears as she smiled at her brother.

"Thanks for letting me get that out, brah."

"No problem. Now let me get out of your hair so you can finish before tomorrow," Luke said as he climbed down and made his way to the door but stopped short for a moment to say, "I love you, too. All of you," before leaving the room and head towards his own.

The day continued for the family as everyone went about their routines before finally dinner was had, teeth were brushed, cookies and milk were set out, and everyone was soon in bed.

It was roughly two in the morning when Lola was awoken by the need to use the restroom. Once the small blonde was finished and made her way back to her room, she stopped at the top of the stairs. Something had caught her ear, the sound of someone moving about downstairs, letting out a quiet, yet excited, gasp, the pageant princess made her way quietly down the stairs.

Luckily making it to the bottom without alerting the person, the blonde saw a familiar red coat and pants. Not being able to stop herself, the blonde spoke, "Santa?"

The figure seemingly flinched and stopped what they were doing before slowly turning around, revealing a rather youthful, and feminine, face under the hat. This confused the blonde girl as she tilted her head to the side, much like a small puppy would.

"Santa? Is that really you?" she asked, now noticing the mysterious woman had a cookie in hand from the plate that Lola had set out. Swallowing the bit of cookie that she was already eating, the stranger answered the little girl.

"Uh...not quite." the woman said, uneasily, "I'm actually the big guys' granddaughter."

"Santas'...grand...daughter?" Lola asked slowly, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"Yeah, I'm...uh..." the woman paused, quickly scanning the room before answering, "Pepper Claus. And you must be Lola Loud, right?"

The little blonde gasped in surprise as her eyes lit up. Pepper knew her name and she couldn't be any happier. Before she could scream in excitement, the Claus woman quickly told her to shush, making Lola clamp her hands over her mouth and nod. She realized how quickly this could've gone wrong if she made noise.

"You know my name?!" Lola whispered excitedly.

"Of course I do. I know all of your names, just like I know someone should be in bed at the moment."

Lola caught onto what she was meaning and quickly nodded before turning and making her way up the stairs but stopped short. "Um...Ms. Pepper? Was I a good girl this year?" Lola asked nervously.

"Yes you were, sweetie. And I made sure to get you everything you wanted because you were so good."

Lola nodded at that but didn't move, something else was concerning the small girl. Pepper picked up on this and asked the girl what was wrong.

"Well...I was wondering...could you maybe...if it's not too late..." Lola trailed off, beginning to fidget in place as she looked down at her covered feet.

"You want another gift?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"I don't know Lola. The gifts are all made, I don't know if I'd have time to get one from the North Pole in time," Pepper said, confused by the girls sudden request.

"It's something that's already here," the small girl muttered out.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I was wondering if you could...get me my big brother for Christmas?" Lola asked, her fidgeting increasing significantly at the request.

"Your brothers are already here, sweetie."

Lola shook her head at that, "Not Lukey...he's always gone on Christmas. For as long as I can remember, he's never been here and I want him to be here when I wake up..." the grade schooler said as she finally looked up at the woman with genuine hope.

Despite how she might act towards him, the princess was always saddened when Luke wasn't anywhere to be found on one of the most special days of the year. A moment passed between them and Lola soon dropped her head down, her hope being torn apart. Lola began to make her way up the stairs before Pepper spoke up.

"I think I can arrange that for you."

The little girls' eyes lit up and she quickly made her way over to the red-clad woman to hug her. Seeing this, Pepper bent down and opened her arms as Lola wrapped her arms around the woman's neck and thanked her softly. Letting go, the blonde was quickly ushered upstairs before she re-entered her room and went to bed, a smile spread brightly on her face.

Once the door was shut, Pepper made her way back to the living room and pressed a finger against one of her covered ears. "You hear all that, Shelf Elf?" she asked as she popped the last cookie in her mouth and chugged the milk with ease.

Elsewhere, in a van with QT, Luke was quickly rubbing tears from his eyes as he responded, "Loud and clear, _Pepper_."

Morning quickly came for the Louds as feet were quickly heard pounding down the stairs before they were halted by the sight in front of them.

"Sleigh what?!" Luan exclaimed as she ticked another tally quietly, "Nine."

"Where are the presents?!" Lana asked, the one question on everyone's mind as they all looked at the barren living room. The only things to greet them in the room was a letter sitting on the tables, addressed to the Louds. Quickly moving forward, Lynn Sr grabbed the letter off the table while Rita began to try and calm down her panicking children.

Opening the letter, the Loud Patriarch was met with a letter and a pair of keys, he read the well written letter in silence before turning to his family. After grabbing everyone's attention, Lynn Sr spoke with excitement.

"Everyone, go get washed up and put on some fancy clothes, we're gonna need to be ready in about an hour." Everyone looked at him in confusion before he clarified, "Suits and dresses people! Now go, go, go! The limo will be here in an hour!" Hearing the mention of a limo seemed to do the trick as the loud family scrambled to make their way upstairs. The sound of teeth being brushed, some showers being taken, and questions of where certain clothes were soon filled the house.

Everyone seemed to be nearly done with the only exception being Lynn Jr and Leni, the latter of whom was delicately adding a light amount of makeup to the formers' face, much to her chagrin. The fashionista, with some help from Rita and Lola, was able to convince the tomboy to wear a bit of makeup and style her hair but only for the day. Putting some final touches on, Leni stood back and admired her work.

"So? How does it look?" Lynn asked her older sister.

"Oh you look _totes_ cute!" Leni said as she handed the younger teen a handheld mirror. Lynn saw that her ponytail had been changed out for a tight bun and Leni had added a bare minimum of cosmetics to her face, the only things of note was the obvious light red eyeshadow that had been applied and some lip gloss.

If she were being honest, she appreciated the fact that Leni kept to her word and didn't cake her face in the stuff. Before she was able to truly admire the work, Luan entered the room to tell them something.

The jokester opened her mouth to say something but upon seeing Lynn, she switched gears for a moment and spoke to her younger sister, "Whoa, Lynn! Are you wearing makeup?"

"Yeah, why?"

Luan just gasped at that before answering, " _Sleigh_ it ain't so! My little sis is growing up!" The older brunette did her laugh and ticked her counter, "And that makes ten."

"Uggh, how didn't I see that coming?" Lynn groaned, rolling her eyes at the pun.

"In all seriousness, you _do_ look good, Lynn" Luan said with a small smile, earning a light blush from the younger brunette at the compliment. "Oh yeah! Dad says the limo should be here in a couple of minutes so he wants everyone downstairs and ready," the jester said, having remembered why she had come up in the first place.

"Alright, we'll be right down," Leni said as she gave herself a once over in the mirror to make sure everything was in order. Seeing everything was in place, Leni grabbed her purse and ushered her younger sisters out of the room. Making their way down, they were greeted to the sight of everyone dressed to the nines.

Everyone save for a certain brunette boy, who had been missing all morning. As was the norm, Luke was nowhere to be seen amongst the family members and if anyone was paying attention, they'd notice a small blonde frowning deeply at the lack of her eldest brother. Sighing dejectedly, Lola kept her hands folded in her lap and waited with her family, saddened by the fact that her last minute request didn't happen.

The princess kept to herself as she waited, until she was tapped on the shoulder by someone. Looking over, the princess saw her twin staring at her with a look of genuine concern. Lola gave the handywoman a tired smile before looking forward again.

A bit of time passed before the large family heard a knock at the door. Upon it being opened, the Louds saw a familiar face smiling at them in a chauffer outfit.

"Merry Christmas, Louds!" greeted the happy, yet respectful tone of Kirby.

"Kirby!" cried the kids as they all gathered to hug the man. Separating from him, the chauffeur stood to the side and gestured to the elongated vehicle that sat at the curb.

"Shall we get going? We've got a full day ahead of us!" Kirby declared, the statement causing everyone to scramble to gather their coats before locking the house and making their way to the vehicle. The door had been opened by their chauffeur, the family began to pile in but was met by another surprise.

"Boo-boo Bear!" Lori exclaimed as she moved into the seat next to her boyfriend.

Merry Christmas, Maria," Rita spoke to the mother of two as she and Lynn Sr sat next to her.

"Merry Christmas, Rita," the latina replied back with a warm smile to her friend.

"Say one word and I throw you out of this car," came the threatening tone of Ronnie Anne as she saw her friend stare at her in surprise. Just like the Louds, the Santiago's were all dressed up with Bobby in a nice suit while Maria and Ronnie Anne, much to the latters' chagrin, wore elegant dresses and fair amounts of makeup.

"I wasn't gonna say anything!" Lincoln squeaked out as he threw his hands up in immediate surrender towards the Latina. Ronnie Anne merely nodded at that and folded her arms with a small huff.

"Oh c'mon, Ronnie Anne, there's no need to have a resting _Grinch_ face. It's Christmas!" cried Luan, earning a heated gaze from the small latina. "Hohohoho! That's eleven!" the brunette said as she put the counter at the mentioned number.

As one could guess, the ride around was filled with a lot of conversation was based around guessing where they were heading to, as well as, where all of their gifts seemed to have gone. Soon however, the limo stopped and the door was opened by a doorman who greeted them with a smile.

After being helped from the car, the two families were greeted by the sight of a rather high class restaurant named, _Aurore Blanche_. Quickly being ushered in, everyone's coats and hats were taken, sans Lana's signature red one, and were promptly escorted to a table that had already been reserved for them.

Being seated, everyone was handed a menu and asked about their drinks. Swiftly drink orders were taken and the waiter left everyone to decide on their food.

"Okay, I'm, like, _officially_ excited to see where today goes!" exclaimed Leni as she jovially looked over the menu.

"Did you guys plan this?" Lori asked the parents of the two families, only receiving confused head shakes.

"I don't think I could even _afford_ a reservation to a place like this," Lynn Sr stated as he looked around at the expensive looking decor. His statement was only met with mutters of agreement by the other two parents. Conversation soon began to fill the silence of the reserved room.

"Thanks for letting me wear your old suit, Linc. You really saved me with this," Lana said as she adjusted her small tie on the aforementioned suit.

"It's no problem, Lans. I figured you'd like it better than a dress."

"I didn't know a suit was an option!" exclaimed Ronnie Anne as she looked to her mom.

Maria merely raised an eyebrow at her daughter before answering, "For the Louds: Maybe, but for you, Ronalda: No." This got some laughs from everyone as they saw the small latina pout like a child. Soon the drinks were brought and their food was ordered.

Once everyone had their fill, they were ushered out and told that the meal had been paid for in advance. Raising even more confusion amongst everyone, the rest of the day went very much the same. No matter where they went or what they did, it was covered in advanced by an unnamed person.

"Alright, I don't know about you dudes, but I'm starting to get worried about who this 'Mystery Payer' really is," Luna said, as she looked around at everyone, some of whom shared the same feeling.

"Ah, c'mon, what happened to not looking a gift horse in the mouth?" Lynn asked, happy at having just come from a hockey game with everyone.

"I agree with Lynn on that sentiment, maybe this isn't something to worry about," said Lucy as she sat back and stared out the window.

"This seems highly suspicious to happen without any of the parental units knowing. And if it simply someone wanting to give us a nice holiday after awakening to the sight of non-existent gifts this morning, then why haven't they revealed themselves to us, yet?" Lisa cut in, adjusting her glasses slightly as she spoke.

"C'mon, kids, I'm sure everything is fine. Maybe we'll find out who the person is when we stop, Kirby did tell me this was the last place before we go home," Lynn Sr. said as he waited anxiously for the limo to stop. Soon the limo turned a corner and everyone was surprised to see that they were downtown, an area everyone knew easily.

The vehicle came to a stop and Kirby soon opened the door for the two families and allowed them to file out. Once the last person stepped out, Kirby shut the door before asking them to follow him. In doing so, everyone soon saw a tarped building that looked to have replaced _Something Fishy_ , a sea-food restaurant that went out of business.

"Uh...Kirby...why are we here?" Lincoln asked uneasily. Sensing their brothers' unease, some of the younger sisters began to hide behind their older ones in slight fear.

Seeing the sight of the nervous kids, Kirby quickly eased the tension, "Oh, don't be scared. There's a reason we're here, I was told to show you all and not say anything."

Hearing that, Lynn Sr stepped forward, "Show us _what_ exactly?"

" _This._ " At that, the driver, with some flourish, pulled on one of the tarps' ropes with all of his strength. What the family saw made their jaws drop from the sheer amount of surprise they felt.

Under the tarp was a simple building, what seemed to be a freshly renovated building but once the sign was revealed, everyone saw that it was much more.

 _Lynn's Table_ was written on the sign.

Tears began to well up in the Loud Patriarchs' eyes as he looked at the building's sign before looking at the front doors, where Kirby stepped to the side and gestured towards them. The middle-aged man immediately remembered the keys he was given and scrambled to get them inside the lock.

Upon hearing the lock unlatch itself, Lynn threw open the door and made his way inside. It was dark inside but with ease, he found the switch and flipped it up.

"Merry Christmas, everyone!" came the voice of Luke as the lights illuminated the restaurant. The teen was sitting in a chair, wearing a suit, with a mountain of neatly wrapped presents behind him. The brunette stood up and placed the chair under a table. "Sorry about sending you all around town today, needed to make sure everything was perfect."

"Wait, you were the 'Mystery Payer'?!" Luna exclaimed.

"Nope, Tetherby was. I just was the one who planned everything."

"Luke!" cried Lola and Lana as they pushed past everyone and ran over to their brother. Luke knelt down and opened his arms, having expected them to come running to him. The two blondes wrapped their arms around their brother's neck before he scooped them off the ground with ease. The two nuzzled into their brother for a bit before the rest of the Louds joined in.

"Man, with how great this day's been, I'm guessing you were feeling really _Santa-mental_ this year, Luke!"

And now the cozy silence was filled with groans as Luan finished her tradition, "Hohohoho! And that's twelve!"

"Finally! It's over!" cried Lori.

"Hey! That's very _Rude-olph_ you to say! Hohohoho!"

"Uuuuuugghhh!"

 _ **That was such a sweet thing for Luke to do for his family. With this though, we wrap on another chapter of our story. I hope you guys enjoyed it, just like I hope you enjoy the present that I'm giving you. Have a Happy Holiday and Stay Tuned, Readers!**_


	14. Intermission

Intermission

 _ **Hey everyone, here's your holiday gift that was promised, I hope you enjoy it. Quick heads up, it does take place in the Not So Loud universe. There are themes of (slight) drinking and (major) swearing, among other things, down below.**_

The Gift: Origins

If one were to ask when this all began, some of the Loud siblings would say three years ago, the night of Lynn's highschool graduation. The night everyone's lives had changed.

The day had started out fairly normal with everyone from Lori to Luan having come into town the day before and spending the night in their old rooms. The morning of that special day though, it was a mad dash for the athlete as she ran around the house getting ready. After finding everything she needed and heading out with her friends, the rest of the family got ready for the day with ease and made their way to the arena where the ceremony was being held.

The ceremony had gone by with ease and soon, after the closing speeches were made, the graduates turned their tassels to the opposite direction and the audience applauded them for having completed their journey.

"Oh I'm so proud of you, sweetie!" cried Rita as she crushed her sixth born into her chest. The eighteen-year-old graduate hugged her mother back as the rest of the family came up to them and offered their own forms of congratulations.

"Hey, Lynn!" came the voice of Margo, her best friend. Looking over, the athlete smiled as the brunette made her way over, "You still heading to the party later?" she asked.

"Course I am! Wouldn't miss it!" Lynn said as she smiled brightly at her friend as the two high fived. Once the girl left, Lynn turned to see everyone giving her rather cheeky smiles. Blushing heavily, the brunette felt her eyes widen as she shook her head vigorously, knowing what was about to happen.

"So a party, huh? Since when did _Lynn-sanity_ go to parties that weren't sports related?" Luke asked with a smug grin on his face.

"Probably since she and her Franny-bear started dating," Lincoln replied, prompting Lily to make kissing noises at her older sister. The statement made everyone laugh, with Lynn soon joining them.

After getting home and dressed down, the older half of the Loud kids had promptly taken their sister away to Lori and Leni's room for their usual tradition.

Plopping the young athlete onto a chair, Lori swiftly brought out a bottle of top shelf vodka and a shot glass. Popping the cap off and pouring a double, Lori handed the glass to Lynn, who in turn looked incredibly nervous as she looked at her older siblings.

After Lori and Luke's graduation, it had become a tradition in the family for a recent graduate to take a shot of liquor as a way of saying 'Welcome to the Real World'. A tradition that the older kids had kept to and as of today, it was Lynn's turn to take it.

"It's okay if you're nervous Lynn," Leni reassured her, rubbing small circles in the brunettes' back.

"I'm not nervous...just pacing myself a little."

"For what? It's just a shot of vodka. It goes down a lot smoother than you think," Luna said simply as she took the glass from her little sister and downed it easily. "See!" the rocker said with a bright smile.

"I just...I don't drink..." Lynn confessed as she wiped her hands on her jeans.

"That's fair, most of us don't either," Luke said. The young adult gave his sister a warm smile as to reassure her. The room went silent for a bit but it was broken when Leni spoke.

"So when's the party?"

"Oh! It starts at 8 and ends around midnight!" Lynn explained excitedly as she smiled at her older sister.

"Then we've got time to get you ready for your boyfriend," Lori stated.

After pushing Luke out of the room, the four girls immediately began to get their sister ready for the graduation party. The remaining time they had was spent getting their little sister in and out of many different outfits before settling on a red, form fitted off the shoulder with a pair of black skinny jeans. Once she was dressed and made up in a fair amount of makeup, the sisters stepped back to admire their work. Before Lynn could ask if it looked good though, she was given her answer unexpectedly.

"Holy shit, sis. I see why Francisco likes you," Luna said as she looked at her sister up and down in admiration.

"Thanks, Lunes..." replied a blushing Lynn. She still wasn't used to compliments about things not related to sports, even as a young adult.

Soon, her date arrived and Lynn was gone with the promise of being back soon.

To say she expected this would be a lie. Lynn had not expected the party to be as extravagant as it was. Already there were people grinding on each other as the loud music shook the building and if she were being honest, despite her outgoing nature, parties like this often made the rising star incredibly uncomfortable due to seeing people be open with their touching.

"I'll go get us some drinks, babe!" Francisco said over the music as he planted a kiss on her cheek and walked off to his destination. Not too long after he was out of sight was Lynn bombarded by guys who were wanting to dance with the brunette.

Luckily, the guys got the message after Lynn gave them all a harsh glare that promised them pain. Soon, her boyfriend returned with their drinks and their night kicked off.

It was around 11 when Lynn felt as though she had her fill of the party. After shooting Lori a quick text, the athlete gave her boyfriend a quick kiss before leaving the party. Grabbing a seat in the van that Lori had rented for the weekend, she was off.

"So how was it?" Luke asked as he and the others four older siblings looked at her expectantly.

"It was...good?"

"Good? That's it?" Luan asked.

"I mean...it was kinda fun. Would've been more fun if everyone wasn't on each other so much, but whatever," Lynn said as she shrugged her shoulders. Lori was about to say something to that when she had to come to a sudden stop as a man ran out in front of the van. Getting out, Lori opened her mouth to say something but was cut off when the man brandished a handgun.

"Get back in the car, blondie!" he spat as he aimed it towards Lori's head. The blonde woman in question brought her hands up in surrender immediately, taking a couple of steps back, she did as she was told. The man followed her around to the side door, "Now, you're gonna take me to the power plant and not ask any questions!" he ordered as he climbed into the vehicle.

"Okay, okay. Just watch where you point that," Lori said as she carefully put the van in drive and began to drive to the location.

The ride was tense, no one dared to say a thing. Everyone was silently panicking while Leni tried to hold her fearful sobs in. Lynn was occasionally glancing at the man, taking note of how only one of his hands was visible as well as how absolutely haggard and insane the man seemed to be.

Pulling up to the plant, the man spoke again, directing it at Luke, "You, boy, get out. You're coming with me."

"And why would I do that?" Luke asked defiantly.

"Lukey, please do as he says!" cried Leni as a choked sob escaped her, making the brunette glare at the man before leaving the car with him in tow. He paused long enough to demand everyone's phones before continuing towards the plant, gun pointed directly at Lukes' head.

Time passed in the van and soon the sound of thunder could be heard. Not a word was muttered and the only sound in the van was Leni's sobs.

"Damnit! What's taking so long?!" Lori yelled as she banged her hand on the steering wheel.

"I'm going in!" Lynn exclaimed, surprising everyone as she climbed from the car. Walking a fair distance away, she was stopped by Luna.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?! We can't go in there!"

"Well what do you want to do? Sit here and wait for him to come back to kill us? Screw that noise!"

"Of course not! But if we go in there, then he'll kill Luke!"

"Stop it!" shouted Luan, prompting everyone to look at the usually happy young woman. "Look, we're in a damned if we do, damned if we don't situation right now," the jokester stated, running her fingers through her hair as she spoke.

"Then what should we do?" Lynn asked.

"We go in there, find them, kick his ass, and call the cops," Luan said simply as she moved past her sisters, towards the direction of the power plant. After a moment of looking at each other, the remaining sisters ran to catch up and were soon all on their way inside.

Making it inside, just as the rain began to pour down on them, the five sisters were surprised to see the amount of injured plant workers and security guards that had been helped by the uninjured. Walking up to one of the scared workers, Lori asked for where the two men went and after being given directions, made her way there.

Through a series of twists and turns, the five young women found themselves at the main area of the plant.

"Hurry up, damnit!" came the enraged voice of the man.

"I'm hurrying, jackass!" Luke shouted before a hard thwack was heard.

"Mind who you're talking to, boy! I still got one in the chamber!"

Lynn looked at her sisters at that statement. If he only had one round left, then they had a much better chance of putting the crazed man down. Looking down at where the two were, the athlete made her way down silently with everyone following her lead.

"Aaand there. It's connected, now let me go," Luke said as he turned to the man.

"And why would I do that?"

Staring blankly at the man, Luke responded, "Because we're standing on a metal platform, without insulated clothes mind you, in a power plant while its most likely heavily raining outside."

"While those are some good points, kid, I still can't do that. I have to make sure this thing works, I've only got one shot at this!"

"At what?"

"If you survive, then you'll see. Royal Woods is about to become ground zero for the next step in human evolution."

Hearing that put a bit of fear in Luke. He was scared, not for himself but for his sisters who were so close to this plant. If what the man was saying had merit, then his sisters were about to possibly be caught in a city-wide explosion. Just as he was about to try and reason with the man, he saw Lynn come flying in with a flying kick to the mans' head.

Having not expected the attack, the man dropped his gun. Lynn landed and took an immediate fighting stance with the others flanking her. Shaking the fog from his sight, the man looked at his attacker before smiling.

"Well isn't this nice. You all came to see the fireworks up close and personal."

The sisters looked at Luke who in turn said something that surprised them. "What the hell are you all doing here?!" he shouted.

"We came here to save you!" Luna shouted back.

"Get out! Now!"

"Why? What's going on?" Leni asked as she looked over at the small panel that Luke had attached to the main grid.

"This manic is planning to blow up Royal Woods! We gotta go before this place goes up and takes us with it!" Luke exclaimed. That statement had its desired effect on the siblings as they immediately looked around and realized how grave the situation was.

"Not so fast!" came the maniacs voice as the sound of a gun being cocked rang out. Moving their attention towards him, they saw that he had brought a second gun with him and was currently pointing it at them small group of siblings. "Why leave now? We've only got a couple of minutes before its all done."

Leni stepped forwards at that, "Please sir, just let us go! My little sister just graduated today and she's got so much to live for! We all do!" she begged as she moved forwards, toward him.

"Is that so?"

"Yes, sir. Now please...just let us go..."

"And why would I do that?" he asked before he looked at his watch and smiled. Reaching into his coat, he produced a small remote and pressed a button on it, lighting up the panel. "When the show's about to start," he said as he then turned the gun toward a generator and unloaded his magazine into it.

Sparks flew from the machinery as it was destroyed. Leni let out a scream before she was pulled back by Luke, who put himself between the generator and his sisters. While they were aware that they could run, they knew that they had wasted too much time arguing to have any chance of making it out unharmed.

Arcs of electricity began to shoot around them as the plant started to become overloaded. A beeping sound could be heard amongst the cacophony of buzzing and the Loud siblings saw the man look down at his watch to silence the beeping.

"It's time."

Those were the last words they all heard before lightning struck the plant, causing it to explode violently as it did. Unbeknownst to anyone, as the explosion happened, a mysterious energy mixed in with the electricity.

The city of Royal Woods was soon hit the largest pulse of mysterious energy it would ever know.

Forever changing many of its inhabitants in different ways...

 _ **And there's your gift folks! Truth be told, I've been wanting to write this for a while. I hope you liked it because if you did, I will gladly make this into a full-fledged story for you all to enjoy. Now as I've said before, Happy Holidays and Stay Tuned, Readers.**_


	15. Lombie Attack

Not So Loud...

 _ **Hey, Readers! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and enjoyed the two gifts I gave you. Now, I apologize for not getting this out when I originally intended. So without further ado, Enjoy!**_

 _Lombie Attack!_

If Luna and Lynn were being honest with themselves, they knew what they were thinking was a bad idea. Sitting before the two siblings was a small bottle that was shaped like perfume. A mysterious liquid sat inside it, being a bright pink color.

"You sure this stuff'll work, Lunes?" Lynn asked, looking at her sister with a raised eyebrow. The older girl couldn't help but roll her eyes at that, having expected the question.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Lisa told me herself that it would," she said as he looked at her younger sister with an irritated expression. The rocker had gone to the young genius in search of something to help make tomorrow special for her and her girlfriend. Lynn, on the other hand, caught wind of what the rocker was doing and wanted in for her own reasons.

"And this stuff won't turn our skin green or something?"

"Nah, she used it on herself to show there weren't any side effects to it."

That seemed to be all the jock needed to hear. Quickly grabbing the bottle, Lynn sprayed a bit on her neck in a way that she'd seen Leni do on a couple of occasions. Handing the bottle off to Luna, she left the room to go downstairs and wait to leave. Luna took a deep breath and held it for a moment before spraying her own neck and following her younger sister.

"About time yo-" Lori began but paused when she caught the smell of something. Taking a couple of sniffs in the air, the blonde followed the scent until she was standing in front of Lynn. Looking down at the small brunette, Lori couldn't help but smile a bit. Given the fact of what today was, Lori wasn't too surprised at some of what her younger siblings had either in their hands or on their persons. But to say that she had expected Lynn, of all people, to be wearing something a bit girly would be an understatement.

The young jock had decided to forgo her usual jersey and shorts combo, in favor of some slightly ripped jeans and a jean jacket over a simple red shirt. In addition to that, the blonde could tell that she had opted for a small amount of makeup and what she could tell was a sweet scented perfume.

Seeing her older sister smiling, Lynn suddenly felt a bit bashful at her style choice but the smile that she saw as teasing, slowly morphed into a warm one. A smile that reminded the brunette of her mom whenever she was being comforting to one of them and as a response to that, Lynn couldn't help but smile back at her sister.

After the moment between them passed, everyone soon piled into the van and were off to school. As per usual, the grade schoolers were dropped off first before Lori went to drop Lynn off.

As the jock was about to disembark from the ancient vehicle, Lori called out to her.

"Lynn?" The jock stopped at the call of her name.

"Yeah?" Lynn turned to look at her older siblings with a raised eyebrow.

"If you wanna knock 'em dead, you might wanna lose the ponytail," Lori said informatively with Leni nodding in agreement. The jock seemed to think on that suggestion for a moment before nodding and doing what was just said.

"Alright, see you guys," Lynn said as she pocketed her hair tie and made her way to the school as the others left. Making her way up the steps and into the hallway, the sports fanatic failed to notice the sudden looks she had gotten as she walked past.

Once she was inside the school and had gotten what she needed, Lynn made her way to her first class, History. A class that she shared with _him_. The boy that she had gotten a little dolled up for. _Francisco Ramirez_ , or as Lynn refers to him in her diary, her Gummy Bear, who was sitting at his desk and was seemingly reading some notes from last class.

Taking a deep breath, Lynn exhaled and made her way to her desk, the one next to Francisco's, and sat down before turning to the boy and speaking. "Morning, Cisco," she greeted casually.

"Oh," came the boy before he turned to Lynn and continued, "Mornin' L-!" Francisco seemed to have his breath caught in his throat as he took in the jocks appearance. To say he was shocked would be an understatement for him. The teen felt his face heat up as he slightly gawked at the brunette before quickly turning to face forward.

Seeing the reaction, Lynn smiled a bit before facing forward herself with a small smile. Class soon began after that and the brunette spent the rest of the class catching her crush sneaking some glances at her. She had even gone as far as flip her hair a bit in a way that she'd seen Lori do to Bobby.

Class was over before either of them knew and the teen moved from his desk as soon as he was able but his escape was cut short by a hand catching his wrist. He was soon spun around gently and met with the face of the girl he'd been staring at all class.

"Oh, uh...what's up Lynn?" he asked dumbly.

"Not much..."

"Oh, okay..." he said before letting a moment pass and continued, "Nice hair by the way. You should wear it down more often."

"Thanks. Figured I'd try something different today."

"Oh, okay...that's cool."

"Yeah..."

"Well, see ya later," Francisco said before he quickly turned and practically sprinted out of the door. Seeing him leave so quickly, the brunette couldn't stop the small frown from forming on her face as she left soon after.

As the jock made her way to her next class, an arm suddenly slammed in front of her, making Lynn stop in her tracks. Following the arm, she quickly came face to face with Evan, the 'cool guy' of Lynn's class. The teen stared at her with a smug grin before speaking in an obviously strained deep voice.

"Hey, babe. You new around here?"

"No."

"Really? You sure? I would've thought that I'd seen a hottie like you walking around here at least once before today."

"I'm not new, now move or be moved."

"Oh-ho-ho. A feisty one? I like 'em feisty," the teen said as he playfully winked at Lynn. If the brunette were being honest, she felt her stomach churn at his behavior. Sighing to herself, Lynn looked at the teen with an indifferent expression before driving her knee directly into his solar plexus. Evan quickly dropped like a sack of potatoes and Lynn continued on her way.

As the day passed, more often than not, the brunette was stopped in the hall or in class by someone who seemed to be wanting to flirt with her in some capacity. It all grew to be annoying to the brunette, with the only surprises being from a couple of rather shy girls who had given her chocolates. Before she knew it however, she was getting dressed from gym class and a familiar voice called out to her.

"Hey, Loud," came the voice. Turning around, Lynn came face to face with Amanda. Just Amanda. The Queen Bee looked at Lynn with a shy smile and her arms hidden behind her back. Rolling her eyes, the athlete finished getting dressed, silently thankful that she chose to wear only a small amount of makeup.

Once she was finished, Lynn shut her locker and began to make her way past Amanda but was quickly stopped and pulled back with impressive strength. Looking at the girl in confusion, Lynn opened her mouth to speak but was quickly cut off by something being pushed into her chest.

Upon looking down, the jock saw that it was a small box of chocolates. Taken aback, Lynn looked up to say something but was caught off guard by something soft pecking her on the lips. It took a moment for her brain to realize what happened but once it did, it quickly shut down.

Amanda had pecked Lynn on the lips. To make matters even worse though, the girl quickly muttered something snobby, yet surprisingly cutesy, before running off with a pink face. Lynn didn't know how long she was standing there dumbly but it seemed to have not been long as she heard the bell ring and was quickly snapped out of her stupor.

Grabbing her backpack, Lynn began to make her way towards the front doors. As she began walking down the halls however, she began to realize how _off_ everything felt.

Looking around, the brunette noticed that some of the students in her class were seeming to just stare at her with slightly dopey expressions. While usually the girl didn't mind being stared at, but at the moment they were making her incredibly uncomfortable. Lynn continued to make her way towards the front of the school while continuing to avoid the stares.

After a few twists and turns through the hallways, she started to hear them, the whispers. Something that always seemed to start to work at her self-confidence to bring it down, was always whispering from classmates. While Lynn knew that sometimes they weren't about her, in this moment she knew they were and if she wasn't so focused on getting to an exit, she'd probably be heading to a bathroom to gather her composure.

Seeing the exit before her, Lynn let out a sigh of relief before reaching for the door. As she began to push however, a hand shot out and grabbed it, forcing it closed with surprising strength, the act caught the small brunette off guard entirely. Following the hand, a knot made itself known in her stomach as she saw a familiar striped sleeve. Trailing up and eventually turning around, Lynn felt her heart sink as she looked into the longing eyes of her friend, Maggie.

"Leaving so soon, Lynn?" she asked as she leaned forward a bit, making the brunette shrink down in unease. The jock couldn't help but cringe slightly at the tone Maggie was using as the emo was speaking with a slightly whispered tone.

"Well, yeah. It _is_ the end of school and I need to get home, so could you move a bit?" Lynn answered, slightly confused by her friend's odd behavior. Maggie merely smiled at that before leaning even further towards Lynn's face. Cupping it in her other hand, the emo let out a small chuckle before speaking.

"After I give you this," she said however, before she could kiss the jock, Lynn shoved her away. In a moment, the emo was on the floor and was looking up at her friend.

"What the hell, Margaret?!" Lynn shouted, her confusion having now turned to anger. Breaking eye contact from the emo, the brunette looked around the hallway to see that a surprisingly large crowd had gotten close to the two and were all now looking at the Loud girl with the same dopey expression as before. Taking in the looks, Lynn could see that everyone's eyes had a glassy look to them and all of them seemed to be standing in a slightly slouched position. It didn't take the jock long to have the last two dots connect for her and she finally realized why everyone had been acting strange all day.

The perfume. That _Lisa_ made.

Looking back and forth at everyone, the jock began to back up slightly. The gesture only seemed to cause everyone to take a step forward. Swallowing the wad of saliva in her mouth, Lynn threw the door open and bolted towards the front.

Easily clearing the stairs and making her way towards the parking lot, the jock looked back in time to see the doors get thrown open and a small, yet terrifying horde of middle schoolers came piling out and were practically sprinting towards her. Looking forward again, Lynn was able to spot something she knew would be her salvation.

Waving her hand about, the young athlete changed direction and made her way towards the vehicle at full speed. Just as she got close enough, Lori rolled down the window to speak.

"Lynn?! What the h-ack!" The blonde was cut off quickly as her younger sister dove through the open window and into the first row of seats.

"Drive, Lorraine! Drive!" Lynn cried as her older siblings seemed to have noticed the horde that was heading right for them. Lori looked back at her sister before hearing someone slam against the windshield, causing the blonde to jump and look forward as she saw a teenage boy staring in at Lynn directly.

"Lynn Loud The Fourth, please go out with me!" cried the boy as he breathed heavily on the windshield. Taking that as her cue, Lori switched into reverse before driving backwards, the boy sliding off the glass with ease. She drove a good couple of blocks before stopping and looking back at Lynn with a furious expression.

"What the hell was that, Lynn?!" spat Lori as she glared at the jock.

"I don't know! Everyone's been weird all day, now all of a sudden Maggie's trying to kiss me and people are starting to chase me like we're in a Zombie movie!" Lynn shouted back.

Hearing this, Lori felt herself calm down a bit before facing forward and shifting into drive and head in a direction. "Luna, let the little ones know to be ready when I get there," Lori said, not breaking eye contact from the road.

"You got it, Boss Lady," The rocker said cheerfully as she pulled out her phone and did as she was instructed.

"What's going on?" Leni asked, confused by the sudden tone shift in the van.

"We're getting the kids and then heading to Luke's job," Lori replied, before quickly adding, "We're gonna hide out there until Lisa can fix this."

"What makes you so sure Lisa will know how to fix this?" Luan asked.

"Because this has Lisa written all over it and we're putting a stop to it before it gets out of hand," said Lori, her tone putting an end to the questions.

After picking the grade schoolers up, Lori barely waited on them to put their seatbelts on before she floored it towards Gus'.

"What's going on?" asked Lincoln as he picked up on the tense atmosphere.

"Lynn's being chased by Lombie's so we're hiding at Gus' till Lisa figures something out," Luan said easily, only prompting more questions from the children.

"Lombies?" asked Lincoln

"Love Zombies" Luna said simply.

"Preposterous, if Lynn were being chased by the undead then my colleagues at the CDC would have informed me of such," cut in the voice of the scientist toddler.

"Then how would you describe how they were acting?!" Lynn asked.

"That depends. How _were_ they acting?" Lisa countered, causing the jock to recount all of what happened to today, excluding what happened in the locker room, and by the end of it all, Lisa seemed to be thoroughly interested.

"Fascinating. And what color was the perfume again?"

"Pink. Why?"

Lisa's eyes widened at that, before she took out a notepad and flipping through it. Looking back up, the prodigy said something that surprised everyone. "So it seems you mistook my bottle of Love Pheromones for the perfume that I crafted for Luna."

"What?!" cried everyone.

"Why do you have Love Pheromones?!" Lori asked.

"Because I merely wished to try and see if pheromones from animals, such as Lions, have any similarities to our own."

"Why'd you have it sitting on your desk?" Luna asked.

"Because I was _studying_ it.," Lisa said in slight annoyance before directing her gaze to the rocker, "Which also begs the question, why is Lynn the only one being chased if you used it as well?"

The question seemed to throw the rocker off guard as a small dusting of pink made itself known on the teens face as she began to sputter and stammer out incoherent excuses. Her reaction seemed to confuse the others as they all looked at each other in confusion before Lori seemed to finally pick up on Luna's behavior and a blush erupted across her own face. Lisa noticed the blonde's reaction and seemed to come to the same conclusion and merely sigh.

"I understand, no need to explain it, Luna," The small genius said, making said rocker merely deflate and shrink in her seat as Lori decided to continue their journey to the arcade.

Getting to the arcade, the Loud kids vacated the van and made their way towards the front doors. As the doors were opened and they began to file in, the sound of footfalls made themselves known as everyone looked back to see the horde of middle schoolers, which had grown significantly, crest over the small incline and come sprinting toward the business.

Hurrying inside, Lori turned towards Robin and told her to lock the doors. It merely took a single look at the coming horde for the young woman to do just that. As the front doors were locked and secured, several kids made their presence known by slamming into the glass. Finally seeing the faces of the entranced kids, Lisa began to jot down notes as she took in their behavior.

"What did you guys do now?" Luke asked as he casually made his way over to his siblings and took in what was happening at the front doors.

"Long story short, Luna accidentally grabbed Love Pheromones from Lisa's lab, Lynn used a bit on herself, and now we have to deal with a horde of Lombies who wanna smooch her," Lincoln said easily, much to the slight embarrassment of Lynn.

"Why'd you use Love Pheromones on yourself?" Luke asked as he looked towards the athlete, who merely dropped her head to hide her face. Seeing this, Luke made a mental note to talk to her later before looking towards Lori, "So what's the plan?"

"You need to get to my lab and find the diffuser."

Looking down at the sudden voice, Luke raised an eyebrow at the genius before rolling his eyes and grabbing his hat. Removing it and placing it on Lori's head, the teen said, "You're covering for me until I get back." Before she could say anything though, Luke took off running towards the employee exit. The distant sound of a familiar moped starting up, before Luke rode by the front door at full speed.

Sighing to herself, Lori moved the hat from her head to Luna's and passed her duty to the rocker before going to Lynn and gesturing to the employee lounge.

Once inside and the door was shut, the blonde took a seat next to the brunette before speaking, "Alright, spill. What aren't you telling us, Lynn?"

Looking at Lori in shock, the athlete said, "What're you talking about? I spilled everything already."

"Then why'd you not answer Luke's question earlier?"

That seemed to gather another reaction from the brunette, thorough embarrassment, "B-because it was none of his business," she said as her cheeks turned a light pink.

Sighing heavily, Lori pinched the bridge of her nose before speaking again, "Then would you _please_ tell me then? Sister to sister?"

Lynn seemed to consider that request for a moment before shaking her head, "It's dumb...you wouldn't understand..."

"Lynn...I doubt it's dumb, if its' got you this bothered. Just talk to me, sweetie," Lori said, her motherly tone, something she usually reserved for one-on-one talks, coming through softly.

Hearing the tone shift, the young brunette looked at the blonde and, after seeing how kind and understanding Lori was trying to be, she sighed, "I wanted to get Francisco to ask me out today..."

"Lynn..."

"Told you it was dumb."

"Far from it, actually. If anything, it's something I understand whole-heartedly."

"Yeah... _sure_ you do..."

"I do, Lynn," Lori said softly as she placed a hand on Lynn's knee and gave her a small smile, to which the athlete returned. "Besides, I'm sure he wanted to ask you out. And if the horde outside is anything to go by, Francisco is probably among them trying to actually do it."

Hearing that, Lynn giggled a bit at that before looking at her eldest sister, "I hope so. I had to deal with turning down a lot of guys today, even some girls."

Laughing a bit at that, Lori said, "Well at least you know that you have options."

"Yeah," giggled Lynn as she and Lori shared a smile before leaving to go back to the front.

Not long after their conversation did Luke make it back with a vial of blue liquid. After a bit of instruction, Lynn and Luna were given a small dab of it on the areas that they sprayed earlier and the effect seemed to work brilliantly. Once the crowd of entranced teens began to disperse in confusion of how they got there.

After they had all began to make their way out of the area, the Loud kids couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief as they realised it was over.

After the day had passed and everyone was soon going about their usual weekend routines, there was a ring of the doorbell which followed the familiar yelp of pain and thud of someone hitting the ground.

Hearing this, Lori made her way over to the door and opened it with ease. Looking down at the crumbled form, a smile spread across her face before she ducked her head back in and shouting, "Lynn, it's for you!" Soon the brunette came clambering downstairs, dressed in her usual attire, sans her shoes as she was getting ready to play hockey outside.

Opening the door, the bunette was taken aback at the sight of Francisco climbing to his feet. Dusting himself off, the teen saw the brunette staring and quickly tried to speak.

"Uh...your doorbell's a little busted."

"Yeah, we were trying to get that fixed soon. Sorry if you got hurt."

"Nah, nah, it's cool."

"Cool...so, what brings you here?" Lynn asked, genuinely confused by her crush's sudden appearance.

"Oh, yeah!" Francisco said before patting himself down and producing a flyer from his pocket and presenting it. It was a flyer for a local sub shop that Lynn's always wanted to eat at. _Subrina's Sub Shop_. And it was offering Life-time supply of subs for anyone who could survive their specially made hot sauce coated sub. "I meant to ask you if you wanted to join me for this yesterday, since I know how much you like subs. Sorry if this is short notice though," The teen said as he gave Lynn a sheepish smile.

"W-wait...a-are you asking me on a date?" Lynn stammered out as her face began to heat up.

"Wha-! I-I mean...I guess? Yeah? I-if that's cool with you at least."

Lynn couldn't believe what she was hearing as she continued to blush and look dumbly at the boy. Before she could answer however, a pair of shoes and her jacket made themselves known in front of her face.

"She'd love to, Francisco. And I'll drive you guys there," Lori cut in as she smiled between the two. Gapping at the blonde, the two middle schoolers shared a look before smiling at each other.

After asking for her date to wait for her, Lynn closed the door before getting her shoes and jacket on as fast as she could. Standing up, the brunette quickly hugged her sister and the two made their way outside and to the van.

 _ **And thus we wrap on another chapter. Once again, sorry that this took so long but since Not So Loud is drawing to a close in a few chapters and I started a new story, I've wanted to slow my pace a bit. Which, speaking of the new story, feel free to check out A New Addition, a story that introduces a new character of mine and all now adventures and hijinks. So with those out of the way, we'll have to wait until next time, Stay Tuned, readers!**_


	16. A Moment to Remember

Not So Loud...

 _ **Hey Readers! Hope you all are staying safe and healthy out there. As I've said in the last chapter, this story is nearing the end and it's been so much fun to write for you all. Bit of a warning for you though, this story will have blood and violence from here on, so tread lightly. Now with that out of the way and without further ado, Enjoy!**_

 _A Moment to Remember._

Spring break for the Louds had been going pretty good, all things considered. Out of the gate, the teenage sisters had gone on dates with their respective significant others while Luke merely served as either chauffeur or babysitter, due to his parents still having to work, which wasn't too big a deal for him since every time, his sisters had made it back in time for him to go to work.

As the break continued however, Luke's worry grew. Every day that passed was one day closer to the dreaded April Fools' Day. The single day of the year where he was always on constant vigilance even though he always made sure to disappear to a secure location the night before.

Making his way down the road, Luke turned onto the familiar street that was the one he grew up on. With a soft smile, the teen turned up the driveway but instead of making his way through the front door like usual, he made his way into the garage.

Looking around to make sure he wasn't being seen, Luke slid into the area and made his way over to a secret compartment where he kept his emergency duffel bag. Opening it up, the teen did a quick search of it to double check everything and after being satisfied with it, he closed it but before he could replace it, a voice cut in.

"Going somewhere, Luke?" came the sudden voice of Luan. Yelping in surprise, the teen spun on his heel and was met with the innocent smile of his little sister. Her hands behind her back as she stood at the garage door side entrance.

"Uh...no, just have these for a rainy day," Luke replied, giving her a wide smile.

"Really now? Is that why it's hidden in the garage?" she asked in a tone very reminiscent of Lola when the girl had blackmail on someone.

"Uh...uh..." Luke stammered out as he stared at his sister's rather unnerving innocent questioning.

"Are you sure it's not your bag for when you sneak off tonight?" Luan asked, her head tilting in one direction. Luke didn't know what caused him to start sweating; Luan's behavior or her sickeningly sweet tone. Before the teen could respond however, she cut in with another question, "You wouldn't want to hide from me on my favorite day, would you?"

Taking a deep breath, Luke grabbed his bag and stood up. "Guess I've been caught..." the teen muttered out as he walked towards the brunette. As he approached the jokester, Luke didn't miss how Luan's innocent smile shifted to a more malicious one.

Making their way inside, Luke was greeted to the usual sound of everyone greeting him. Greeting everyone back, even taking a moment to hug Lana, the teen was asked by Luan to follow her. In doing so, the teen was taken to his younger sister's room and upon closing the door, she spoke.

"Man, that was fun!" exclaimed Luan as she giggled a bit, "I never thought I could ever actually make you scared of me. Oh man, am I good or what?"

Not at all amused by his sister, Luke felt his legs give out as he released a breath that he was holding in. "Ugh, have you been taking lessons from Lucy or something? How'd you sneak up on me?" Luke asked, looking over at Luan before noticing her lack of shoes. "Ah...I see," The teen said as he pulled himself off the ground, now beginning to mentally prepare himself for the next day that was to come.

Meanwhile, in an undisclosed location, five figures sat around a table. The biggest amongst them listening to what the others were saying to him. The past couple of months had proved to be incredibly problematic for them. Plans were made and thrown out due to constraints but now, now they were ready and prepared for what they were gonna do.

"And you're saying _this_ is the Santiago residence?" One figure asked, looking at a picture of the single story house.

"No, it's my Aunt's speedboat. Yeah, it's the house!" Another figure spat, sarcasm heavy in their tone.

"Enough! We don't have time to argue." The head figure said, getting the two bickering to stop. After a moment they spoke again, "If this is the place and all of our information is right, then we need to hit this house tonight."

"Wait, why _tonight_?" asked the smallest of the figures.

"Because we've been trying to do this for _months_ , that's why."

"Well if we're doing this, then we need to do it at midnight. He'll be home by then," said the final figure, their tone having a bit of an anxious tone to it. Hearing that though, the other figures gave grunts of agreement before final preparations were beginning to be made.

Back at the Loud residence, the air was heavy with tension. Idle conversation was to be had as everyone seemed to be trying to not let their nerves show as they all waited for the meal to be over and they could all begin preparing for what lay ahead for them tomorrow.

Once dinner was over and the dishes were cleaned, the Loud kids, save for Luan, went upstairs and into Lori and Leni's room.

"Alright, we all know why we're here," Lori said simply yet with a slight commanding tone. "Does anyone have any last minute plans for tomorrow? This year's gonna be more hectic now that Luan caught Luke before he could leave."

"We could all stay in our rooms all day and never leave for anything but the bathroom," Lincoln said, throwing out a plan he had tried to execute a couple of years ago.

"That wouldn't work. We'd have to come out for food at some point in the day," Luke countered his little brother's plan. The white haired boy couldn't help but deflate at that, having not thought about that part. Seeing him down though, Luke patted him on the back and offered him a smile.

"There's always Lisa's bunker," Lynn threw out.

"Negative, the bunker hasn't been repaired since the last time it was occupied in an attempt to shield ourselves from Luan's stunts," the little genius countered.

"And at this point, it might be boobytrapped since she probably knows how to get in," Lincoln added.

"How about we fight back? Y'know, fight fire with fire?" Lana asked simply, piquing everyone's interest immediately. Taking a moment to reflect on that, all of the teens in the room couldn't help but level their gazes at Luke. Seeing this, Lola asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"Why's everyone looking at Lukey?" the little princess asked aloud.

"Luke, dude, please," Luna said, sliding closer to her brother with a slight pleading look in her eyes. "Just this one time," the rocker said, bringing her hands together.

"I don't know, guys. Luan and I pranking each other? I don't think that'd end well."

"Wait, you used to prank people?" Lucy asked.

" _Pranking_ would be putting it lightly, but...yeah," Luke said, looking away from everyone with an awkward smile. Upon hearing that confirmation though, the younger twins couldn't help but grin from ear to ear as they practically ran over to their older brother with bright eyes. The unasked question easily being asked by the looks on their faces. Looking at the two little girls before turning his gaze to everyone else in the room, the eldest Loud boy heaved a heavy sigh.

"Alright, alright. I'll do it..." he said simply, causing everyone to sigh in relief. "I'll just need to head to my lab to get what I need." Hearing that, everyone couldn't help but have bright smiles on their faces before being quickly wiped away at his next statement, "Which means I'll also need to leave the house tonight to set all of my stuff up."

Hearing that, everyone looked at each other with slight worry before Lori chose to speak up. "How do we know you'll come back?" the eldest blonde asked, her question seeming to be the same one that everyone else had on their minds.

"Oh c'mon, when have I ever left you guys behind?" Luke asked, being a bit coy and making Lori give him a look that made him laugh a bit before speaking again, "Okay, okay. If you must know, Lisa has a GPS tracker in my prosthetic." Hearing that, everyone's eyes turned to the small genius who merely nodded her head. A sigh swept through the room again at that confirmation.

With the plan they had set in stone, the Louds concluded their meeting and made their way to their rooms, mentally preparing themselves to face what could possibly be one of the most eventful April Fool's Day.

The night dragged on and Luke silently left for his lab, making sure to leave through the window in his room as to avoid bumping into Luan.

To say that everything went as planned would be a terrible lie. Since the moment everyone woke up that morning, prank after prank had been set off by one Loud member or another. The pranks throughout the house had caused various states of being for the residents. One prank had covered Leni in honey and feathers, while another had caused Luna to be assaulted by various pie flavors. The pranks continued to plague the Louds before finally, they were all able to hole themselves up in Lori and Leni's room.

"Alright, I think I can speak for everyone when I say that Luke has abandoned us," Lori said, brushing and combing her hair after some birds had attempted to make it into a nest.

"Maybe he's still setting everything up," Lincoln offered, using one of Lori's makeup wipes to get the clown makeup off his face.

"I doubt that, if he was setting everything up, then he would've called or something," Luna said as she got some blueberries out of her hair.

"Has anyone tried calling him? He could be asleep," Lynn Sr said, he and Rita both seemingly in better shape than their children due to donning some makeshift armor to protect themselves from the pranks their daughter had set up.

A few nods and verbal confirmations could be heard throughout the room before Rita gave a sigh and pulled out her phone and dialed Luke's number. Everyone looked at her and waited as they faintly heard her phone ringing before hearing the familiar voice of Luke's voicemail.

Quickly hanging up, Rita looked to her husband silently and he easily did the same as his wife had done. Waiting for it to connect, Lynn Sr. got the same as Rita. After hanging up the phone, the Loud Patriarch looked over at his wife with concern painted across his face.

"Alright, now this is starting to become worrisome. This isn't like Luke at all," Rita stated, earning a nod from her husband.

"Lisa, think you can turn that tracker on?" Lori asked, the concern of the parents starting to trickle down into the kids.

"Affirmative, Eldest Sibling," the toddler said, pulling a device from her pocket and beginning to tap a few buttons on it. Sounds began to emanate from it before a small pinging could be heard, "That's odd..." Lisa said, a phrase that no one wanted to hear.

"What's going on, Lisa?" Rita asked, beginning to make her way over to her second youngest daughter. Taking a look at the screen, the Matriarch saw a blinking red dot on a map of what she assumed was Royal Woods.

"According to the tracker, Luther seems to be...standing? Near the forest leading to the outskirts of the town."

"What? Why would he be..." Lori began to trail off before something occurred to her, "He got rid of the tracker!" she exclaimed.

"That's impossible. The tracker is too far inside the prosthetic for him to merely remove and discard."

"Then explain why he's ignoring our calls and why the tracker is in the middle of the forest."

"I'm sure there is a rather logical explanation for that. Perhaps we should just go and investigate?" Lisa offered.

"How? In case you haven't been paying attention, this whole house is rigged with pranks," Lynn Jr. said, her worry being made known.

"Maybe we can sneak Lisa and Lori out to investigate?" Lincoln asked, having gotten all the makeup off his face. "We've already sprung a few of Luan's traps so maybe they'll have an easy time getting out of the house," the youngest Loud boy said with ease.

"Or we could sneak out through the window," Lori said as she made her way over to the window and opened it with ease. Clambering through it, the blonde teen turned around and offered her hand to Lisa to which the little genius accepted and was pulled up and out. Hearing someone clear their throat behind her, the blonde turned to meet the questioning gazes of her parents. Knowing there was gonna be a discussion later, the teen gave them an apologetic smile before continuing along her way.

Lori began to make her descent down with what seemed to be practiced ease before dropping onto the lawn and placing Lisa down. Making their way over to Vanzilla, the two girls climbed into the ancient vehicle and started it up, bracing themselves for if Luan had rigged it to explode with paint like it did once before.

The sound of the engine turning over was heard and, after waiting a couple of moments, Lori breathed a sigh of relief before shifting into drive and leaving the driveway. Lisa guiding her with the locator.

After a series of twists and turns, the two Loud girls turned onto the road that Luke seemingly was located near and began to slow down.

"According to my device, he should be located right...there," Lisa said, pointing to the side of the road. Stopping the vehicle, Lori took the tracker from her little sister and began to slowly make her way towards the exact location. A sense of unease and dread starting to line her stomach as she got closer. Something, however, caused the blonde to stop in her tracks.

Just over the side of the road and at the bottom of the short incline, was a moped. The vehicle seemed familiar to the blonde but at the moment, the reason for familiarity was lost on her. Shaking her head lightly, Lori brought her attention back to the locator. The pinging dot seemed to have started to increase in volume before it read that Lori was practically on top of where Luke was located. Pulling the object down, the blonde couldn't see anyone else.

"Lisa!" she called out.

"Yes, Lorraine?"

"Are you sure this thing is right? I don't see Luke anywhere around here."

Hearing that, Lisa clambered her way out of Vanzilla and over to Lori. Taking the device from her, the genius began to search around at the exact coordinates, occasionally taking glances at the device.

"It seems the coordinates are located...below us?" Lisa said, making her way a bit closer to the side of the road before looking down the incline. Without much of even a warning, the small toddler began to make her way carefully down the incline, causing Lori to hurriedly follow behind her.

Making their way down, Lisa brought the item up again before starting to walk around a bit. Listening to the ping, the little brunette treaded carefully but was stopped when she heard Lori stop and gasp. Bringing the device down, Lisa was met with the sight of what looked to be blood splotches on the ground as well as upturned dirt and trampled grass. Forgetting about the tracker, the two followed the irregular blood trail and foot prints.

After what felt like a few minutes of walking, the two came to a stop and saw something that made their blood run cold.

A prosthetic leg. Or more specifically, Luke's prosthetic leg.

And it was bloodstained.

 _ **And that concludes this chapter of the story. What happened to Luke? How will Lori and Lisa tell the family? And Is our Luke okay? We'll have to find out on the next installment, but until then, Stay Tuned Readers!**_


	17. The Lost Loud

Not So Loud...

 _ **Hey Readers! Hope you all are ready for this installment because I've been waiting to get to it for so long. As said before, from here and onward, there will be a bit of blood and violence so bare that in mind before charging forward. Now without further ado, Enjoy!**_

 _The Lost Loud_

Lori had only a handful of regrets in her life up to this point. From times where she made her siblings cry because she was mad to even times where her and Bobby got into arguments over asinine things, but none of those compare to the regret she was feeling at the moment.

After making their discovery, Lisa had told the older blonde to call the police and inform them on what they found. After doing just that, the small genius had basically pulled Lori as much as she could from the scene so that that didn't contaminate the evidence. Allowing herself to be pulled along, the blonde didn't so much as blink as she made her way to Vanzilla.

The two sat in silence as the police made it to them. After having their statements taken, the two girls were escorted home by a female officer. The ride over was tense as Lori just stared ahead as many things rattled about in her mind while Lisa was merely running through all the possible scenarios of what would've caused Luke to go missing in the first place.

Turning onto the familiar street, Lisa noticed Lori's hands tighten on the steering wheel as the two vehicles stopped in the driveway of the familiar house. Getting out and approaching the door, Lisa was picking up on both Lori and the officer's body language. They were both tense for similar yet different reasons.

Getting onto the porch, the officer gave three bangs on the wooden door. A moment of eerie silence passed before the sounds of footsteps could be heard. The quickened and light steps easily telling the two Louds who it was.

Opening the door wide, the three of them were greeted by the bright smile of Luan. The prankster was about to let loose one of her usual jokes before she caught the looks on their faces and the words died on her tongue.

"Uh...yes?" Luan hesitantly said.

"Is this the Loud Residence?" The Officer asked, her voice even.

"Yes?" Luan answered as she threw a confused look towards her sisters.

"Then may I speak with the Parents or Guardians of the house, please?"

"Uh...yeah, let me go get them," Luan said as she quickly ran back up the stairs. Not too long after she disappeared around the corner did the three hear hushed voices before the sound of a door opening and more hurried footsteps.

The rest of the family bounded down the stairs, some of them seeming to have fallen for some pranks while they were gone. Making their way down the stairs, Rita and Lynn Sr moved towards the door while the kids all went throughout the house.

"Yes?" Rita asked, her confusion being easily shown as she and Lynn Sr. ushered their daughters in.

"Mr and Mrs. Loud, I have a few questions I'd like to ask you. May I come in?" The Officer asked.

"Of course, of course! Right this way," Lynn Sr said as he stepped to the side and allowed the woman in. Walking in the Officer noticed the slight mess in the house as well as some of the kids seeming to dismantle some projects of some sort.

"Sorry about the mess. We take April Fools' Day a little more intensely here," Rita said as the three adults sat down at the dining room table.

"As I've heard at the station. Either way, I'm here to ask you some questions that pertain to a Missing Persons' Case," The Officer said, pulling out her notepad and pencil.

"I'm sorry, Officer...?" Rita began, silently asking for the woman's name.

"Okae."

"Thank you. I don't understand why this case involves us, Officer Okae," Rita said before something dawned on her. "Unless you mean..." the mother began.

"Yes, Mrs. Loud. The case is concerning your eldest son, Luther Loud." Hearing those words brought tears to Rita's eyes. Her baby, her little Luke, was missing. Making their way to the dining room, the three began to discuss amongst themselves.

Seeing as how the adults were busy speaking at the table, they failed to notice the small goth girl hiding around the corner, her eyes wide as the words were spoken. Hurrying out of the room, Lucy made her way up the stairs and into the bathroom.

Throwing the door open, the goth was met with the sight of her older sisters, Luna and Lynn, finishing up their cleaning as they began to make their way out of the room. Hearing the door be thrown open, the two brunettes were met with the sight of a slightly panicked Lucy.

"Whoa, Luce! What's wrong? You look like you've-" Lynn began before hearing two words that made her heart sink.

"Luke's missing."

Some time passed for the house as the word quickly spread amongst the siblings what was being discussed with the Officer in the dining room. Soon, the woman got the information she needed, including a recently taken picture of Luke, and was gone.

Once the door was closed and locked, the parents were met with a cacophony of voices from their kids. Almost everyone was speaking over each other, demanding answers that neither of the parents had. It was growing in intensity before a piercing sound cut through all of it. Covering their ears, everyone turned to the source of the sound and was met with the usual stoic expression of Lisa.

"Asking questions that our parental units do not have will _not_ get you the answers you desire. If you want answers then please ask me or Lorraine as we were the only two of the residents to see the scene of the attack and kidnapping," The young genius said.

"Kidnapping?!" the others shouted.

"Yes, as of just moments ago, I have come to the conclusion that our missing ilk was in fact kidnapped. A fact that I have already shared with the local Police Department."

"How do you know he was kidnapped?" Asked Luna, the usually loud brunette having a softness to her tone that showed her worry.

"Looking at the evidence I was able to see as well as the fact that Luke's prosthetic was removed and discarded, it is safe to say that he was kidnapped. By whom I do not know."

"Well that's good to know. Now I'll be able to sleep knowing that Luke is probably hurt and tied up in someone's basement," Lynn said, her sarcasm being driven home by the roll of her eyes.

"How could this have even happened? There's no way Luke would've been caught off guard so easily," Lincoln said, verbalizing what everyone was thinking as the tension of the house began to rise before someone said something that cut through all of it.

"This is my fault..." Lori muttered out as a crushing feeling began to make itself known in her chest. Hearing their sister speak for the first time in an uncomfortable amount of time, everyone couldn't help but look at Lori and what they saw broke their hearts.

Lorraine Loud, the confident, incredibly bossy, and overprotective eldest sister of the Loud family, was starting to breakdown. Not in a way they've ever seen before, her body language showed how scared she was feeling as she began to hug herself, not caring that her makeup was beginning to run or that she was supposed to be keeping it together so as to not scare any of the younger siblings, but she didn't care. "I-I shouldn't have let him go alone...I should've gone with him," the blonde whimpered out as the tears began to fall to the ground. Seeing this, Rita and Lynn Sr. couldn't help but rush over to their daughter to hug her.

"What do you mean, sweetie? None of this was your fault," Rita said as she combed through her daughter's hair with her fingers, Lori's tears starting to stain her shirt a bit.

"W-We just wanted to protect ourselves from Luan today," Lori said, her words piercing through everyone's hearts as some of the others couldn't help but feel tears well up in their own eyes. Things began to click in everyone's minds as the meeting they had last night was starting to replay in their heads. They had all played some part in convincing Luke to leave the house last night.

Luna and Lana were feeling it the heaviest since one of them had suggested it while the other pushed him to do it. The older of the two couldn't help but sink to the ground as the tears began to flow down her cheeks. The rocker could feel her chest ache as the worst case scenarios started to play in her mind. She knew there was a chance that Luke was okay but the more negative side of her mind refused to think about that. Her twin, the one person she's been with since the day she was born, was suddenly gone.

Lana, on the other hand, felt all the sound of the world fade away as all that passed through her mind was how she needed to get out of the room and away from everyone as she felt her own guilt build up. With tears staining her face, the little gearhead ran up the stairs and out of sight. A door could be heard being slammed shut and soon, one by one, each of the members couldn't help but let their tears flow freely as they all tried to console each other.

The rest of the day was a blur for the Louds as everyone felt the usual life of the house had been sucked out of it. Each of the siblings felt complete guilt about the current situation and decided to retire to their rooms for the day, save for one certain small blonde girl. Lana had run to Luke and Lincoln's shared room and wept into the eldest boy's pillow, his covers over her head so as to muffle her small sobs.

It was no secret in the house that Lana and Luke had an almost Father/Daughter relationship more than Brother/Sister one, so it came as no surprise that she was taking his disappearance the hardest. Night soon fell upon the house as the Louds all soon found themselves unable to sleep having a hard time finding sleep.

The last couple of days of the break proved to be too much for the family as they all kept waiting with baited breath over any form of news but continued to be disappointed as nothing came up. Soon the Loud kids had to return to school and while normally they would complain at their fun being over, now it was them being unwilling to focus on anything that wasn't their brothers' return home.

"But Mom, what if they-" Lynn began but was quickly cut off by the matriarch.

"We've discussed this already, if Luke's found while you guys are in school, then we'll call you all," Rita said, her irritation being obvious as she has been dealing with the stress of all that's been happening. The large family had all aired their concerns over the course of the past few days and while talking to each other did help, it did little to ease their worries.

It would be obvious to everyone that word had gotten around the city about what was going on, since it was a ' _Missing Persons' Case_ ' however, they weren't expecting the amount of attention they were getting. While the Elementary School had a couple of posters scattered about and the Middle School seeming to have put up a few more and even had some staff members wanting to form a search party, it was the High School that showed it had the most attention towards the Louds.

No sooner had the teens gotten out of the van, they were bombarded by random groups of people. Some trying to be detectives by asking questions to help, while others were merely trying to gain some form of gossip on the situation. The four girls were continuously questioned until they were finally pulled into a classroom and had the door quickly slammed shut and locked.

Confused by the sudden grab, the four Loud sisters were surprised to see a somewhat unlikely duo in the form of Carol Pingrey and Isabelle Thomas, both of whom wore looks of concern.

"Are you girls okay?" QT asked as she gave each of the sisters a once-over.

"Emotionally or Physically?" Luan asked, not a single thread of humor in her tone as she stared at the ground with a despondent look.

"We're as good as we can be," Lori answered, her tone even yet a bit dry.

"Well that's go-" Carol began to say.

"No one was talking to you, _Pingrey_ ," Luna spat, sending a sharp glare towards the blonde. The blonde in question dropped her head at the sight of Luna's anger.

"Right...sorry."

"Hey now, Lunes, she's just wanting to help out. Luke means a lot to her, just like he does to all of us," QT said, placing a hand on Luna's shoulder, drawing the brunette's ire from Carol.

" _Tch_ , whatever," Luna muttered out with a roll of her eyes, opting to fold her arms over her chest.

"So what's the situation at home? How's everyone holding up?" QT asked.

"As good as it can be, a lot of tension in the air and we're all waiting for that one call to come in," Lori explained simply, choosing to exclude all the self-blaming that some of the siblings were having towards the situation.

"Is there any way we can help out?" Carol asked softly, worried for any more anger being sent towards her from the Louds.

"Yeah, there has to be something you guys need and if there is, we're here to help," QT added.

"Thanks but for right now, we all just want to get through the day and get home," Lori stated, starting to make her way to the door so that she could get to class on time. Luan and Luna easily followed behind her before QT let out a defeated sigh and soon followed as well. Leaving two blondes in the empty room.

"You comin', Leni?" Carol asked as she made her way to the door.

"Yeah..." the fashionista muttered, making her way to the door without any form of haste. Getting up to the older blonde, Leni sent her a small smile, her usual joy gone from her face. Carol couldn't help but place a gentle hand on her shoulder with a smile of her own.

Meanwhile, in some unknown location, the gagged screams of a teen could barely be heard in the dimly lit room. The bound individual couldn't help but struggle against his restraints, even though it would only tire him out.

With dried blood caked on the side of his face from one of the many beatings he'd received recently, Luke looked around the room as best he could. It had been about four days since his kidnapping, as far as he could tell at least, and the people who took him had made sure that he couldn't get out.

Before he could think of anything though, a familiar sound could be heard from the far corner opposite of him. A sound that has been plaguing him for a little while now. The sound of a mountain lion's growl accompanied by the sound of a chain rattling as the large feline leapt out from the corner and towards Luke. Its claws out and primed to carve through Luke's throat. Seeing the creature coming toward him, the teen let out a terrified scream through his gag.

But before the feline could reach him, it was yanked back by the chain around its neck, sending it to the ground with a hefty thud. The puma got back onto its paws with a look of irritation before it slowly crawled backwards and sat on its haunches with a look of hunger on its face as it eyed the bound teen.

Luke's heart was in his throat as he stared at the creature, tears starting to streak down his face as he looked at it. The teen couldn't help but pray that he was found quickly before the creature got free or his captors returned.

 _ **And there marks the end of the chapter for this time. Things took a turn towards the end didn't it? I hope you all are excited for what all is coming next because this story is nearing its climax and I can't wait for you guys to read it. Until next time, Stay Tuned Readers!**_


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